When A Plan Comes Together
by SaltyJak
Summary: She KNEW the girl was bad news from the moment she met her... Mostly because Tootie insisted she was, but Timmy's girlfriend just somehow rubbed her the wrong way. After three years of the two teens 'dating', a certain string of events had allowed her the chance to enact the perfect plan, now all she needed was the participation of her best friend...
1. Chapter 1

The blonde slowly drummed her fingers on the metal table, her head propped up in her other hand as she leaned on her elbow. In front of her sat a food tray that held the lunch her friend had bought her, a now half-eaten sandwich, an empty bag of chips, and a nearly finished bottle of orange juice. The girl, Heather; wore a white, zip-up vest that looked a bit like a winter jacket without sleeves over an equally sleeveless orange t-shirt, itself sporting a collar similar to what one might expect on a turtleneck sweater, but generally not a t-shirt. Further down her body she wore an olive-colored skirt that, while not dangerously short, still only reached roughly the midpoint of her thighs, leaving her pale legs exposed to the cool, air-conditioned mall air, though only down to the bottoms of her knees, which was about where the brown leather boots she wore reached. "Pfft..." She exhaled a slow, lazy gust of air in boredom, blowing a lock of her dark-ish blonde hair out from in front of her right eye.

"Something wrong?" The redhead, who sat across from her friend Heather, slowly glanced over at her with a bored expression, her eyes half-lidded as she absently chewed on the straw of her drink, which, judging by the loud, hollow sucking sound she occasionally made with it; was by now little more than melting ice. The pink-eyed girl had her long, fiery-red hair done up in a ponytail and wore a lime-green t-shirt, snugly-fitting black jeans, and a pair of black and gray sneakers that she'd bought that very afternoon, the new soles of the shoes making a squeaking sound whenever she walked on the mall's tile floor, or now, as she bounced her right foot up and down on the tips of its toes with impatience.

"Hauh..." Heather yawned, covering her mouth with the hand she used to cup her chin. "Ah… Just… This conversation we're having is _so_ exhilarating! I'm not sure how much longer I can bear to keep it going!" The blonde shot her friend a _far_ too happy smile, which, given her usually calm, somewhat aloof demeanor; was about equal to the girl advertising her sarcasm with a brightly lit neon sign. "No offense Vicki, but being the _fourth_ wheel to your third? Not exactly how I envisioned spending my Friday afternoon. I mean, I appreciate you buying me lunch and everything, but..."

"But hanging out at the mall with me is _really_ cutting into your busy schedule? Is that it?" Vicki questioned in an equally sarcastic tone of voice, knowing that if she hadn't offered to give her best friend a ride to the mall, Heather more than likely would've stayed in bed all day, since she didn't have to work this particular Friday. "Or is this about that dream you had where you were trapped in the mall with a bunch of weird monsters?"

"Th-That was _one_ time! And a while ago!" The flustered blonde pointed a finger at her red-haired friend defensively. "Knew I shouldn't have had ice cream before bed… Or told you about that dream..." She quickly snatched up her bottle of orange juice and gulped down the rest of it, before re-capping the bottle and returning it to her tray. "Anyway, it's not about any of that, or cutting into my schedule, it's just… Boring. I didn't exactly _need_ to go shopping, and all we've done so far is pick out a new pair of sneakers for you and get lunch… Have you even heard from those two, yet?" Heather nodded at her friend's phone, which sat on the table just to the right of her drink.

'Those two' of course, referred to the missing pair of passengers that had been in Vicki's car during the drive up to the mall. One of them, Heather knew fairly well, as it was the same boy whose parents had essentially bought Vicki her sports car with the money they paid her to babysit their son, a one Timmy Turner. She had first met the brunet, who was now a few months into his fifteenth year of age, when she was sixteen, the same age her fiery-haired companion had been, at the time. Vicki had brought him along to her house due to a 'scheduling conflict' as she had put it. She and Heather had planned to hang out that day, but Timmy's parents called last minute and asked Vicki to babysit the prominently buck-toothed boy.

Not being one to turn down easy money, yet also not being the type to flake on her best friend, Vicki compromised and brought the ten year old along with her, with _out_ bothering to ask Heather if it was okay. The blonde had been, admittedly, caught a bit off guard by the small, somewhat shy brunet clad in a pink baseball cap, matching t-shirt, blue jeans and similarly colored sneakers standing on her doorstep and partially hidden behind Vicki's right leg, but the awkward, shy smile he shot her in response to her own rather awkward wave had to have been one of the most adorable sights she'd ever seen, especially due to his being partially hidden behind Vicki. From there they became fast friends, and she soon found herself asking Vicki to bring her 'Twerp' over a lot more often, while Vicki revealed to her in turn that Timmy would ask(and sometimes even plead) to go over Heather's house.

For a time, however; she noticed that Timmy tended to act nervous around her, though not necessarily _toward_ her. She'd catch him looking over at Vicki on multiple occasions as though something was bothering him that he couldn't quite come out and say, or if there was a decision that needed to be made on where they'd go to eat, for example, he'd look to Vicki without saying anything, almost like he was silently asking for her permission to voice his own opinion on what they should do, or where they should go. Eventually, it came to light that her best friend wasn't entirely honest with her, though she supposed she never really asked, either.

Vicki, the girl she first met in high school and was close friends with, and Vicki, the Babysitter, were two wildly different people, and when Heather finally got Timmy alone long enough for him to tell her how the redhead _actually_ was, she wasn't exactly thrilled by what she was told. There wasn't a doubt in the blonde's mind that Timmy was a sweet, well-behaved(for the most part) kid, and he most certainly didn't deserve to be treated the way he told her he was. At first, some of the things Timmy told her Vicki made him do just seemed so outlandish that they sounded absolutely ridiculous, but even though the redhead was her best friend, there was something about the ten year old's tone that just told her he was telling the truth.

Naturally, the next time she and Vicki were alone, she made sure to give her fellow sixteen year old an earful and a _half_. The blonde adored the little buck-toothed boy her friend babysat, and even saw him a bit like the younger brother she never knew she wanted, and what followed that earful was easily the worst fight the two teens had ever had. Vicki, for her part, never once lied or tried to deny what she put Timmy through, and her aloof, nonchalant attitude actually seriously bothered Heather. This was her friend, supposedly. The same friend who would likely drive her around town aimlessly if she asked, and would cover the cost of the rare shopping sprees they went on without a care in the world. How on Earth could she be such a witch to someone as sweet and innocent as Timmy?

Needless to say, her friend's uncaring attitude only encouraged Heather to make the redhead see the error of her ways, and that very same insistence nearly cost them their friendship, with Vicki storming out of the blonde's house that very same afternoon that she confronted her. She slammed the door behind her, sped off in her car, and didn't talk to her for just over a week. No texts, no calls, not one word was spoken between them… That is, until Vicki showed up on her doorstep the following Saturday with Timmy in tow. Both girls offered the other little more than a glare, before the brunet took the initiative and gave his babysitter's right thigh a quick, gentle jab with his elbow, prompting the redhead to apologize to Heather on the spot, and causing the blonde herself to wonder if she was still asleep, and merely having a _very_ strange dream.

Shortly after she let the redhead and her charge in, Heather found that her day was only headed in an even stranger direction from there, as although Timmy still acted a bit nervous around Vicki, the tension the blonde had felt in the air between them was bizarrely absent. Vicki, for her part; still maintained a somewhat distant attitude toward the ten year old, but she'd occasionally joke around with him, or playfully tease him, rather than treat him as though he was barely there at all.

Meanwhile, Timmy had at some point become more willing to sit close to the redhead, and would rarely even fire back at her with a joke or little teasing remark of his own, though he'd still sometimes hesitate out of what Heather assumed was some small underlying fear of reprisal.

With a bit of prodding toward both Timmy and Vicki, Heather at last found out that, during the week where she and Vicky hadn't talked, Timmy had 'rescued' the redhead's younger sister, Tootie; from one of the nastier bullies that plagued their school. To be fair, it was Vicki who had scared this 'Francis' off, but Tootie assured her older sister that Timmy did indeed make an honest effort in getting her away from Francis, and it had only been thanks to the brunet's timely intervention that she'd been able to escape at all.

That, according to Vicki, had been what finally changed her mind about Timmy, though she admitted, much to her chagrin; that the scolding Heather had given her _did_ make her take pause and _seriously_ consider that yes, maybe she was wrong to treat the boy the way she did. He was willing to take a beating in place of Tootie, and in her book, that meant a lot. Enough that she resolved to try and start over with the boy she now affectionately referred to as 'the Twerp'.

Back to the present, however; Heather found her thoughts wandering to the fourth member of their little impromptu posse: a girl that Timmy apparently went to school with whom she'd only just met today. She appeared to be roughly Timmy's age, if maybe a few months older, and possessed vaguely Eastern features, along with a head of long, flowing black hair that nearly reached the small of her back, while the outfit she wore consisted of a snug, pink, designer turtleneck sweater, a pair of bright white jeans, and expensive-looking, girly leather boots with heels, easily putting Heather's plain brown ones with a single belt on each calf to shame.

They'd picked her up last, right after Timmy; in one of the wealthier suburbs of Dimmsdale, and while she seemed friendly enough to Heather, the blonde could practically _feel_ the disdain radiating off of Vicki during the whole car ride up to the mall, and seeing as how it was just the two of them, the blue-eyed girl figured now was probably the best time to probe her friend for information on this girl that Timmy was very clearly enamored with.

"No." Vicki at last replied, flicking the corner of her cell phone and making it spin in place on the table. "The Princess is probably dragging Timmy all over the mall just so she can have him buy her stuff that _she_ can afford no problem… Bet she just likes the feeling of someone paying attention to her and bending over backwards at her every whim..."

"Careful. All that envy's turning you green, Vicki." Heather replied teasingly, rolling her eyes at her friend's venomous tone.

"I am _not_ jealous." The redhead responded adamantly, giving the blonde her full attention. "I just don't like to see the Twerp wasting his time and fawning over some dumb girl who's so _obviously_ desperate for attention that she'd probably go _crazy_ if the rest of the world ignored her for longer than thirty seconds!"

"Oh… Okay, you're just overprotective~!" Heather grinned knowingly, slightly flashing her teeth at the pink-eyed girl across from her. "And here I was thinking you just wanted your Twerp _all_ to yourself!"

"As I'm his designated legal guardian he is _technically_ my property, yes, but he's free to date whoever he wants! ...So long as they're not using him, that's all." She mumbled the last part out as she began to chew on the end of her straw again.

"You ever think maybe Timmy _likes_ being used? I mean, I don't like the idea much myself, but it _is_ his choice, isn't it? He's bound to wake up and realize what's going on eventually, right?" The blonde slid her tray over to the edge of the table, giving herself a bit more space.

"Heather, he's been following this girl around like a lost puppy for almost _six years_. The Twerp's not _dumb_ , but he's definitely naive." Vicki, finally tired of the tiny gulps of water her cup provided, placed it on her friend's tray, then slid both arms up onto the table, standing them on her elbows as she brought her hands together and interlaced her fingers in front of her mouth in a contemplative manner, her brow furrowed in thought.

"That long…? Jeez, I hope he's gotten _something_ out of the deal by now..." Heather frowned and shook her head as she slouched in her seat, tapping her lower lip with her index finger. "How do you, like, _know_ anyway? Are you so sure they haven't found a secluded corner of the mall to make out in? Or even a dressing room in one of the stores? Teenagers tend to be _pretty_ sneaky, Vicki. We had no problem giving Mister Watson the slip during all those gym classes in high school, so…?"

'Well for one, Timmy's not exactly shy about sharing when it comes to Trixie. He was coming home from school, frustrated, for three years before he one day bursts through the door, smiling from ear to ear and bragging about how Trixie finally gave him a shot and agreed to go out with him. I was skeptical, as I'm sure you can guess; but I kept my mouth shut and just congratulated him; y'know, trying to be supportive..." The red-haired twenty-one year old again flicked the corner of her phone, once more making it spin in place. "But _then_ he asks me to drive up to her house and pick her up so the two of them can go on a date to see a movie together, and I agree because… I mean, I didn't really have anything _else_ going on, and since he was only thirteen, I still needed to keep an eye on him… Plus it gave me a chance to actually meet this girl he's always going on and on about, so we drive up there, she comes waltzing out of this huge mansion and hops into the backseat with this big dumb smile, and the Twerp's got an even _bigger_ smile on his face as he's practically shaking with excitement next to me..." Vicki trailed off, rolling her eyes at the memory. "I almost fell for her act, except Tootie had already been telling me for a while that this girl was just a hussy-her words, not mine-and just… Everything about her gave me a bad feeling. The way she carried herself, her weirdly _too_ -happy smile, like it was forced or something, and just-... Just the fact that this girl had suddenly agreed to go out with Timmy on a whim after three years of turning him down; it just didn't sit right with me." The redhead took a moment to catch her breath as she finished, then awaited a response from the blonde across from her.

"So… You don't like Trixie… Because she gives you a bad feeling?" Heather questioned in an incredulous tone, tilting her head ever so slightly to the right. "Oh, and because Toots doesn't like her, either." She gave her lower lip a single tap, then continued. "Well Detective Valentine, I'm relatively certain 'bad feelings' don't hold up too well in court, so unless you've got more-"

"I was _getting_ to it, Smartass." Vicki narrowed her eyes at the girl across from her, now sporting a sly, amused grin. "Look, you and I both know Timmy's not the type to lie, and he'll tell me just about anything if I ask him, probably'd tell you anything too, so explain to me why he's _still_ never kissed this girl; after almost _three_ years of 'dating'." The twenty-one year old raised her hands, forming air quotes with her fingers. "Tell me why she shrugs his arm off when he tries to put it around her shoulders. Tell me why he's spending his _entire_ allowance on this girl, and not a dime for anything _he_ wants!"

"Okay, okay, I get it, she's using him for crap she can probably afford no problem, judging by that _estate_ she calls her house; but again, if he's cool with it, what's it matter to you? Is Timmy not free to make his own choices? Learn from the consequences of his own mistakes?" Heather attempted to shrug indifferently, but couldn't deny the pang of guilt she felt as the words left her mouth. _"It sucks that someone like him is too naive to realize he's being played, but… What can she do? What can_ either _of us do?"_ She pouted as the thought crossed her mind, realizing the seemingly nice girl that they'd picked up apparently just had a _very_ convincing facade.

"Ugh…! He's free to do _whatever_ he wants, I just-!" Vicki cut herself off, noticing that her voice was rising right alongside her frustration. "...I've known the kid for almost _eight_ years, and you've known him for _six_! I know you practically adore the Twerp, and I-..." She pinched the bridge of her nose and let a huff of air out through her nostrils. "I just don't want him to waste his teen years chasing someone who doesn't give a shit about him, that's all." The redhead trailed off quietly, breaking eye contact with her longtime friend.

"...Hah… Well you know you're not alone there..." The blonde sighed out, reaching into her vest's left breast pocket to take out her own phone and check the time, which it indicated as ten past seven. "But I saw how he was in the car with her, and you've _known_ how he feels about this girl for years now. Neither of us can forbid him from seeing her, and I seriously doubt his parents even _know_ he's dating someone, or would care if they found out, judging by what little you've told me about them..." The girl rubbed her bare upper arms with her hands, the air-conditioned mall making her feel a little chilly as goosebumps broke out across her skin. "I should've put some pants on today..."

"Sleeves probably would've been good too." Vicki chuckled quietly in response, the corners of her lips twitching up to form the slightest of grins.

"Yeah, well… The temperature's still well above ninety outside, so my clothes are appropriate for any non-mall excursions." The blue-eyed girl took a moment to slip her phone back into her vest pocket, only to look up at her red-haired friend and notice that Vicki now had her left eyebrow quirked up, as if intrigued by something.

"Hm… Actually, that's not a bad idea…!" The redhead mused to herself, again interlacing her fingers together in front of her mouth to hide the evil grin that had formed.

"Oh joy… I know that look anywhere, V." Heather rolled her eyes as a mildly uneasy feeling came over her. "That's that, 'we should sneak into the gymnasium's pool after school hours so we have it all to ourselves' look." The blonde recalled the time Vicki had showed up at her house in the middle of the night with a truly massive key ring that she'd more than likely pilfered from the janitor's office. She couldn't deny that it _had_ been fun, and breaking the rules with her best friend was _always_ infinitely more exciting than when she did it alone, but the evil glint she noticed in the redhead's eye suggested something truly naughty was forming in her mind, and Heather already knew she was going to be involved _somehow_.

"For the record, I recall you saying that that night was one of the funnest ones you'd ever had."

" _For the record_ , we almost got caught by school security and my clothes were ruined from all the chlorine." The blonde shot back sternly, earning her a dismissive hand wave from Vicki.

"So were mine, big deal. You and I both know it was _totally_ worth it, and this little idea of mine will be too!" The twenty-one year old remarked in an almost giddy tone of voice. "First things first though, we need to locate the two love birds, I wanna do a bit of recon before I settle on something concrete."

"Okay..." Heather replied hesitantly, realizing the redhead intended to involve her in a plan that she not only wasn't going to tell her about for now, but the girl hadn't even yet _thought_ of the plan in its entirety! "So why not give them a text and tell them to meet us somewhere? It's getting kinda late now, anyway..."

 _Meanwhile…_

"What about this one?" The dark-haired girl asked as she stared down at the sweater she wore, this one being a light shade of lavender, but very similar to the one she'd come to the mall in.

"Looks great!" The teen fifteen year old beamed at his girlfriend as he sat on a small ottoman in front of her, several shopping bags full of clothes sitting on either side of him. Honestly the sweater was no different than the last fifteen or so she tried on, save for the color, but he'd told her the same thing every time, as he was happy to just be around the girl, seeing her try on all sorts of clothes and outfits was just a bonus, not to mention some _very_ pleasant eye candy.

"Aw, c'mon! You've said the same thing about nearly everything I've tried on! Heehee!" Trixie giggled girlishly, her cheeks sporting the slightest tinge of pink. "Do you _actually_ think I look good in everything, or are you just telling me what I want to hear?"

" _No_ , I'm being honest! You really do look good in everything!" Timmy replied in a similarly giggly tone, still a bit unused to the nuances of flirting.

"Well then I guess I know what I'm getting, huh?" She smiled and winked, then spun around and disappeared back into the dressing stall behind her. "You've got this covered, right, Babe?"

Almost instinctively, Timmy took out his wallet, now considerably thinner and lighter than it had been when he left his house earlier that day. "Er… Y-Yeah! Shouldn't be a problem!" _"So long as we don't shop anywhere else..."_ The brunet thought to himself, hoping he wouldn't have to dip into his bank account, as his walking around money was nearly spent.

"Great! Thanks, Timmy!" Trixie shot the buck-toothed teen a wide smile as she came back out of the dressing stall, once more wearing her original pink turtleneck.

"Ehehe… N-No problem..." The brunet felt his cheeks heat up at the sound of his name. For the longest time, Trixie had seemed to have some kind of mental block when it came to his actual name, and she usually called him 'Tommy', or, after they began dating; affectionate little names like 'Babe' or 'Boo', occasionally even 'Pumpkin', though she oddly never did it again after Veronica heard her say it, which puzzled the teen, though not enough to think on it much afterwards.

That said, within the last year or so she'd finally managed to start calling him by name, and there was something so sweet and pleasant about the way his name sounded on her lips that his heart seemed to skip a beat whenever he heard her say it. He immensely enjoyed spending time with Trixie, and after having been shot down for so long, he'd felt like he was on cloud nine when she at last gave him a chance.

Picking up the various, brightly colored shopping bags, Timmy followed the girl through the store and over to the register, then carefully placed his cargo down to fish out his wallet and pay for Trixie's clothes, leaving him with little more than a five dollar bill and some pocket change.

With that, the two left, yet another extra bag tucked under the brunet's arm as he tried to keep pace with his girlfriend, who strode a few feet in front of him. "Hah… What… What do you even _do_ with all these clothes anyway, Trixie? You almost always wear your older stuff, so…?" Timmy panted from the combined effort of carrying all of the girl's bags _and_ trying to keep pace with and walk alongside her, though every time he managed to come up on her left, she sped up a little, causing him to trail a few feet behind her.

"Hm? I've worn plenty of the stuff you've gotten me, Timmy. You probably just didn't realize it when I did." Trixie shrugged as she took out her phone and began rapidly typing with it. "Besides, a lot of the stuff I get is seasonal. I'm not gonna wear a sweater or coat in the middle of June, and I'm _definitely_ not wearing a swimsuit or short skirt in the middle of December. Sometimes I let Veronica have some stuff too, since we're both the same size in just about everything."

"Oh really? I never thought about buying clothes out of the season they're meant for… That's not a bad idea!" Timmy smiled at his girlfriend's wisdom, while making a mental note to pay attention to what Veronica wore, and if it matched any of the things he bought Trixie.

"Teehee! Smart _and_ beautiful; you got yourself quite a catch, huh?" Trixie looked over her shoulder, winking at Timmy and shooting him a small, cute smile.

"Hehehe! Yeah I did..." The teen blushed again, quietly giggling to himself as he followed after his girlfriend. "So where do you wanna go next? Could… Stop by the food court, get something to eat?" _"And give me a chance to rest?"_ He mentally hoped, starting to feel sore from carrying Trixie's purchases all over the mall. "Or… There's an arcade a little ways up ahead? Might run some of our friends-"

 _Vrrr!_

The brunet cut himself off and fell silent as he felt his phone vibrate in his right pocket. "Ah, hold on a sec, Trixie! I think Vicki's texting me..." Setting the various shopping bags he was carrying down on the floor at his sides, Timmy took out his phone and looked at the screen, which read: 'Food Court, time to go.'

"Vicki?" Trixie spun around on her heel and strode over to Timmy, stopping just a foot or so in front of him with a quizzical look on her face.

"Yeah… Y'know, Vicki? The girl who drove us here? Red hair, pink eyes? My babysitter, Vicki." He tried to briefly describe the older girl to his girlfriend, wondering if she was perhaps just bad at remembering names, and had a better memory when it came to faces and physical descriptions.

"Oh! I just assumed she was your driver or something. Her name's Vicki? Huh… So what's she want, anyway?" The dark-haired girl dipped into a somewhat disinterested tone of voice as she slowly leaned toward Timmy to try to get a peek at his phone.

"Agh… She says it's time for us to go..." The teen responded in a voice heavy with disappointment, though deep down, he couldn't deny the relief he felt at receiving Vicki's text, considering he'd spent nearly all of his money on Trixie at this point.

"Ugh, really?" She crossed her arms and lightly stamped her foot in a mildly petulant manner. "We haven't even _been_ here that long!" Trixie cast her gaze at the massive skylight that ran the length of the mall, only just now noticing the orange glow of twilight in the sky brought on by the setting of the sun.

"No, but… I mean, there's always tomorrow, right? And you _did_ get a lot of shopping done today..." Timmy gestured at the shopping bags to his left and right.

"Hm… I guess so… But I already made plans to hang out with Veronica and a few of our friends tomorrow, and we were probably just gonna do stuff at her house..." Trixie rolled her eyes in annoyance, before refocusing her gaze on Timmy, the look she gave him making him feel like she was silently blaming him for Vicki cutting their time together short.

"Er… Well, we can still spend time together, right?" The blue-eyed boy questioned in a hopeful tone. "I can come over Veronica's and-"

"Oh, I wish, Babe, but Veronica and I are just kind of having a… Like a girl's night, know what I mean? We're probably just gonna talk about boys, do our nails, compare gifts we get from all the boys at school… That sort of thing. It just doesn't really sound like your scene, Timmy." Trixie shook her head back and forth, shooting Timmy an apologetic look. "Besides, would you _really_ wanna hang out with a bunch of girls while we talk about gossip and paint each others' nails?"

"Well, when you put it _that_ way… Kinda." Timmy's cheeks pinkened at the idea of being around Trixie and a bunch of her friends, many of whom were similarly easy on the eyes like her. Granted he wasn't _interested_ in any of them like he was Trixie, but he _was_ a curious, hormonal fifteen year old boy, so the fantasy was, at the least, intriguing.

"Oh, would you _stop_?! Heehee! It's just girls hanging out and talking like girls!" Trixie laughed in a cute, giggly manner. "You're not gonna learn some big conspiracy or secret if I bring you along!"

"No, not like the luxury couches and fountains of liquid candy that are in the girl's bathrooms…" Timmy narrowed his eyes in a mock-serious, playful way. "I'm onto you and your secrets, _especially_ all that talk about cooties to try and scare us boys off."

The girl facepalmed to hide the wide grin spreading across her face, then shook her head as her body quaked with muffled giggles. "If it weren't for Veronica declaring tomorrow as a 'girls only' night, I'd take you along just to prove to them how ridiculous you are."

"You still could~… Just putting it out there..." Timmy smirked as he finished, quirking an eyebrow up at his longtime crush.

"...I'll _try_ to convince her to make an exception for you, but no promises." Trixie winked at the buck-toothed boy, earning her a wide, excited smile of thanks in response.

"Awesome! You're smart, pretty, _and_ cool!" The brunet beamed at his girlfriend, who shrugged in dramatic fashion.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Trixie asked haughtily as she turned toward the direction they'd been heading earlier, prompting Timmy to gather up her shopping bags and fall into step a few feet behind her. "So where did Vi- ...Your babysitter tell us to meet her, again?"

"The food court, right by where we first came in." Timmy relayed the information to Trixie, accepting the fact that due to her somewhat brisk pace and all the cargo he was carrying, he had little hope of walking alongside her, for now.

 _At the food court…_

"Mm." Heather hummed quietly as she sat up and nodded at something behind Vicki, prompting the redhead to sit up straight herself and turn in place in her chair to look behind her; her Twerp and the girl she less-than-affectionately referred to as 'the Princess' coming into view.

"Jeez, she's treating him like a frickin' pack mule..." Vicki glared at the dark-haired girl, who didn't even seem to notice, as she was too busy looking at her phone to even watch where she was going, let alone notice someone practically glaring right _through_ her. "A little over three hours, and she's got him carrying _eight_ shopping bags. Willing to bet she didn't spend a dime, either."

"Alright, alright, calm down, Vicki." The blonde quietly chastised her friend. "You don't know for a _fact_ that Trixie didn't buy anything herself, and besides that, Timmy might as well be in love with the girl; how do you think he's gonna react if you get pissed off and start throwing accusations around?" Heather still didn't know just _what_ Vicki's plan was, but the redhead getting into an altercation with a high school student in the middle of the mall _definitely_ wasn't part of it. "Hey, Shrimp!" Heather greeted the fifteen year old with a yell and a friendly wave. "You want some help carrying some of that before your arms fall off?" She pushed her seat away from the table and stood up.

Timmy let out a sigh of relief, his arms by now quite sore from carrying Trixie's purchases all over the mall. "Y-Yeah, if you don't mind, actually-"

"That's alright, Timmy's got it." Trixie suddenly interjected, making the twenty-one year old pause mid-step and turn her attention to her.

"Er… His arms are turning red from the blood pooling in them thanks to the straps from the shopping bags, and he can barely catch his breath…" Heather pointed out the male teen's obvious fatigue, her lips tugging downward into a slight frown as she looked at Trixie, then Timmy. "Really, I don't mind grabbing a couple bags to help him out…?" She glanced back in Vicki's direction as she heard a scoff escape the pink-eyed girl, then finally returned her attention to Timmy and took five of the bags he was carrying, taking a fair bit of the strain off his still somewhat small(for fifteen) body.

Trixie, only just now catching on to the fact that Timmy was indeed tired, caught herself, her expression immediately softening. "Oh, um… You didn't say anything, Timmy. I didn't realize you were having such a hard time, sorry..."

"Wha- H-Hey, no! I-I'm fine, just a little tired from walking all over the mall. It-It's no big deal anyway, I've lifted heavier stuff than this before, Trixie!" The brunet attempted to reassure his girlfriend, despite the fact that he _was_ indeed tired, and immensely grateful for Heather's help.

"Oh, well if you're sure… I just feel bad for making you carry all that stuff by yourself… I wasn't thinking, I guess." The dark-haired girl remarked in a sad, apologetic tone, earning her varying degrees of sympathy from the three people around her.

Timmy was quick to try and reassure her that he was fine, and that she didn't need to feel bad, Heather reacted with a look of surprise, though it was mostly directed at Timmy and how gullible he was, while Vicki simply rolled her eyes in exasperation, muttering out an 'Oh get _real_ ' under her breath.

"Trixie, I'm _fine_ , really." Timmy lifted the remaining bags up and over his head. "See? No sweat!"

"That's a relief, I don't know what I'd even do if you somehow got hurt on my account..." Trixie stepped a bit closer to the teen, giving his shoulder an affectionate little rub.

Heather was quick to notice this subtle display of affection, and turned to face her red-haired best friend, one eyebrow raised as she shot her a lopsided smirk.

Vicki met her friend's smirk with yet another glare as she loudly slid her chair away from the table, making the legs screech against the tiled floor. "Alright, let's get going. Heather's gotta work tomorrow-"

'No I don't-" The blonde began, only to quickly fall silent as Vicki shot her a wide-eyed look, silently asking her to play along. _"Ah… No doubt this is the part where she wants me to come in… But for what, I wonder?"_ Heather mused to herself, before quickly backpedaling on her previous statement. "Er… Oh, that's right, I actually have to… Cover for someone tomorrow, morning shift, probably gonna hit the hay as soon as we get back…?" She punctuated her statement in a questioning tone, earning her a hesitant nod of approval from the redhead.

"Aw! You're busy too?!" Timmy exclaimed in disappointment, his blue eyes now cast up at Heather's to meet hers. "Trixie's hanging out with Veronica, _you're_ working, Chester and AJ are _still_ out camping with their families..."

"And _you're_ stuck with me, Twerp." Vicki, having sidled up next to Heather, Timmy, and Trixie, roughly grabbed Timmy's cheek and pinched it, then gave it an upward tug, stretching it out and eliciting a cry of discomfort from her charge.

"Ah-! Ow! I-! I was getting to tha-a-at! I was-Ah! About to say, at least I still get to s-spend time with my _f-favorite_ babysitter!" The brunet, despite the pain, managed to smile up at the older girl, who grinned down at him in return and released his cheek.

Vicki hummed out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. "Mhm… Good save, Twerp."

"Aow..." Timmy groaned as he brought his left arm up and rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. "Watch the cheeks, Vicki… I've only got four of those..." He smirked as he continued to rub at his sore cheek, causing Vicki to roll her eyes at his little joke.

"Pfft, bet you would've liked it if I pinched your _other_ cheeks, little perv..." The redhead settled her hands on her hips and shook her head back and forth. "Look at the bright side though, since I pinched your cheek _so_ roughly, now you've got an excuse for your _girlfriend_ to kiss it and make it better…!" The twenty-one year old's lips curled up into an evil grin, her eyes narrowed somewhat menacingly at Trixie.

"Wha- Me?" The dark-haired stammered out nervously, her lips forming a slight frown as her eyes widened at Vicki's suggestion. "I… Th-This isn't really the… The place for _that_ , is it…?"

"For what?" Vicki shrugged in amusement, crossing her arms and curiously quirking an eyebrow up at the girl. "I'm not telling you two to make out in the middle of the mall or anything. In fact, I'm not _telling_ you to do anything, merely suggesting." Noticing Trixie's growing discomfort, the redhead took the opportunity to press her further. "I mean, you two have been dating for what, three years now? Give or take a month, maybe?" She cast her gaze upward at the mall skylight, bringing her arms up behind her head and interlacing her fingers together. "A little thing like a kiss on the cheek, that shouldn't be _too_ much of a big deal, right? Should be second nature, really; don't you think so, Heather?"

"Eh… I would… Think so? I guess?" The blonde responded hesitantly, caught between her loyalty to Vicki as her best friend, and the fact that she was putting Timmy's girlfriend on the spot. As was said before, she adored Timmy like a little brother, and she didn't really _know_ Trixie enough to have much of an opinion on her. "It's-Uh… It's probably not really any of _our_ business though… Maybe Timmy and Trixie aren't big on public displays of affection, y'know?"

"Y-Yeah! What Heather said!" Timmy suddenly cut in, stepping in somewhat between his girlfriend and his babysitter. "Trixie and I… Just don't like to flaunt that we're in a relationship, that's all!"

Upon hearing this, Vicki's smile dropped a little, causing her to hesitate for a moment as she looked back and forth between her charge and his 'girlfriend'. "Oh~… Well I guess that explains it then. And here I was thinking she was leading you on to take advantage of your generosity and all the attention you pay her… My mistake…!" The red-haired girl grinned down evilly at her charge, who merely stared up at her blankly, his babysitter's words taking a few seconds to sink in.

"A-Ah… So we should… Probably get going, right?" Heather interjected anxiously, realizing that, despite the fact that they were in a mall swarming with people, the air between her, Trixie, Vicki and Timmy had become uncomfortably tense, especially since her best friend had just unabashedly spoken her mind regarding Timmy's girlfriend. "Eheh… R-Right, _Vicki_?"

"Mm, yeah, guess we ought to head out." The redhead responded confidently, continuing to shoot her charge an evil grin for a few seconds as she watched the gears in his mind visibly begin to turn, before she finally turned away from the group and headed for the mall exit.

Heather was the first to begin to follow after her, and was quick to catch up with and walk alongside her friend. " _Subtle_ , Vicki." The blonde remarked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't _do_ subtle. Even if I did, the Twerp never would've gotten it anyway." The redhead spoke in a hushed tone, noticing out of the corner of her eye as she looked at Heather that Timmy and Trixie were now following several feet behind them, with her charge giving his 'girlfriend' a sympathetic look every few steps, but otherwise just looking forward as he walked, his gaze trained neither on her, nor Heather; he just looked ahead, his expression far-off and contemplative. "Besides, this is all part of the plan, trust me."

"...The plan that you not only have told me almost nothing about, but also haven't even fully _thought up_ yet, right~..." The blue-eyed twenty-one year old shouldered the shopping bags on her left arm, freeing up her hand so she'd have an easier time with the exit doors the four of them were fast approaching.

"You don't remember? I told you I needed to do a little _recon_ first, and I _did_. Ya notice the way Timmy clammed up when I mentioned she's just leading him on? He's been thinking it too!" The redhead tried to hide her excitement from the two teenagers behind her and Heather, but there was no hiding the smirk forming on her lips. "The first step to this plan is planting the seed of doubt, and I think I did a fine job, don't you?"

"Eh." The blonde brought her left hand up, palm facing down as she tilted it from side to side. "I would've waited until we dropped Trixie off at least, would've been hard enough to convince Timmy to dump her in the first place; now you probably just gave us more work..." She trailed off as Vicki took the lead and opened the first of two sets of doors, allowing Heather to step into the small vestibule; Timmy and Trixie following close behind.

With it being her turn, the blonde pushed the outer door open with her free hand, letting the two teenagers go ahead of her as she hung back to continue talking to her best friend. "Ahah! You said 'us'!" Vicki exclaimed in a subdued tone, her voice coming out as a rather loud whisper.

"Well, you already seem pretty dead-set on me being a part of this plan, and it's not like I'm gonna lie and say I'm _not_ interested..." Heather moved away from the door she was holding open, and directly into Vicki's path. "But actually _knowing_ where I come into this _would_ be nice…?"

"Hm..." The redhead hummed in thought, blinking her eyes closed as she balled her right hand into a fist and settled it under her chin, her left arm holding up the elbow of her right. "I haven't _quite_ put it all together yet, but… I'm gonna need you up early tomorrow, gonna pick you up from your house about… An hour and a half before I go pick up Timmy; think you can be ready for… Let's say, ten?"

"I don't see why not…" Heather shrugged, the corners of her mouth curling downward to form a bemused frown. "But why should it matter whose house we're at?"

"Part of the plan, you'll see!" Vicki smiled at her blonde friend, then reached forward and took the pair of shopping bags from her right hand before stepping around her and walking off toward her car. "So you're in?" She called over her shoulder, not quite looking nor bothering to stop.

"Yeah, guess so!" Heather called after her red-haired friend, quickening her pace to catch up with her. _"Tomorrow's gonna be an_ interesting _day..."_

 _Meanwhile…_

"Thanks." Timmy muttered under his breath as he stepped out into the uncomfortably warm southern California evening, the fingers of twilight slowly receding across the sky as the sun began to disappear below the horizon. To his right walked Trixie, for once slowly enough that he didn't need to put much effort in to keep up with her. The door behind him finally shut, and he soon heard two pairs of footsteps that seemed to lag behind him; Vicki and Heather, their voices too low for him to gauge what they were talking about. "So, this was… Fun, huh? You were able to get a lot of shopping done, and we… It was kinda like a date, right?"

"I guess." Came the terse reply from Trixie, her eyebrows titled downward and her brow furrowed with what could only be anger-or at the very least-annoyance.

"Ah… S-Sorry if Vicki… She can be… Like that, sometimes. I think she just… I dunno..." The brunet spoke in short sentences, many of them simply trailing off into silence as he struggled to come up with a reason behind _why_ Vicki did what she did back at the food court. He knew he was partially to blame, as he'd made the mistake of telling his babysitter on numerous occasions about how Trixie rarely showed him any sort of affection, despite them being in a relationship. He'd even gone so far as to lie to the redhead about Trixie preferring to only be affectionate in private; the truth of the matter was, the dark-haired girl had still not yet once hugged him, kissed him, or done anything that he imagined most people did when they were dating. The little pat she'd given his shoulder had actually been the _first_ physical gesture he'd ever gotten from the girl, and her touch had well and truly made his heart skip a beat. _"But…_ _If she didn't_ want _to be my girlfriend, she would've dumped me by now, right?"_ The fifteen year old thought to himself, casting a sidelong glance at Trixie.

"Hmph, you could've told me she was mean… Where did that even come from, anyway? She's always been cool before, maybe a little quiet, but I never figured she had something against me..." The dark-haired girl walked with a bit of a stomp in her step, the heels of her boots clacking against the pavement of the mall parking lot. "I'll see if there's anyone else who can drive us around, maybe Hans, or-"

"That… Um… You know Vicki is still my babysitter, right? I can't-… I don't think she'd really be too cool with me getting a ride from someone who used to shoot me into the trash cans like a basketball, Trixie..." Timmy winced as the somewhat painful memory flashed to the front of his mind. The popular kids' bodyguard always seemed to be careful enough to keep from _really_ hurting anyone Trixie and her friends didn't want around, but getting thrown across the cafeteria and into a trash bin certainly wasn't a pain _less_ experience. "I… I know that what Vicki said was kind of mean, but… You know she's not normally like that, so… You think maybe we could just call this an off-day for her and let it slide?"

"Hm..." Trixie frowned and crossed her arms as she walked, her mouth forming a thoughtful frown. "I suppose so… But you need to tell your driver, babysitter, what _ever_ she is, to not be so rude and claim that I'm using you. You said yourself you don't mind buying things for me, and we're _dating_ , how can I possibly be using you?"

"Th-That's what _I'm_ saying! She just- She doesn't know what she's talking about, I'll make sure to set things straight, Trixie. Count on it!" Timmy nodded happily and smiled at the dark-haired girl, earning him an equally happy smile in return.

"Great! Thanks, Timmy!" The two teens at last made it to Vicki's car, the trunk making a metallic popping noise as they did. "Ooh! I can't wait to show Veronica all the stuff my awesome boyfriend got me!"

"Hehehe! Hope she's not _too_ jealous!" The brunet laughed lightly as he loaded the bags he was carrying into the trunk of his babysitter's car. Outwardly, he was smiling and happy, especially since Trixie didn't seem to be all that mad at him after all, but inwardly, he had a feeling his day alone with Vicki tomorrow was going to be less than pleasant...


	2. Chapter 2

"Well Your Highness, we've arrived." Vicki announced as she pulled her car into the long, spacious driveway in front of Trixie's house and shifted it into park.

"At last." Trixie spoke in a relieved tone of voice, scooting over next to Timmy as Heather opened the passenger door and got out, then moved the seat forward so the two teenagers in the backseat could do the same.

"Tch, no tip for the 'driver'?" The redhead muttered under her breath as she popped her car's trunk open, before glancing over at her blonde friend as she bent over and leaned back into the car, her lips curled up into a lopsided smirk; one eyebrow raised as if to ask 'Really?'.

"So that was fun." The girl remarked sardonically, and chuckled quietly as Vicki rolled her eyes at her. "Quiet car ride, no music, the two lovebirds chit-chatting back and forth in hushed tones to avoid pissing off the big, bad-"

"Just help them get the bags before I leave you and the Twerp here." The redhead gave a quick nod toward the back of her car, then leaned back and reclined in her seat, her car quietly purring as it idled in the driveway of the Tang residence.

"-Witch with a capital B!" Heather exclaimed playfully, her eyes dancing with amusement as she stood up straight and made her way around her best friend's car to the trunk, where she soon found Timmy struggling to gather up all eight of his girlfriend's shopping bags. "Shrimp, let me help before you hurt yourself..." The girl shook her head exasperatedly, both at Timmy's stubbornness to do everything on his own, and the fact that Trixie didn't seem to have any intention to actually _help_ him carry her things. She again took five of the bags and allowed Timmy to carry the other three, then followed behind him as he followed Trixie up the sloping, paved path to her front door.

"Just set them down by the door; I'll have them brought up to my room once I track down some of the help." The dark-haired girl gestured over at an empty spot on her house's front step, just to the right of the door.

"You have 'help'?" Heather asked, tilting her head a little as a bemused frown formed on her face. "I know this _mansion_ is probably a dead giveaway, but just how loaded _is_ your family, anyway?"

"We do okay." Trixie answered with a subdued shrug of her shoulders, a small smile playing at her lips. To the blonde's ears, she almost sounded humble for a moment.

"I'm thinking we might have different definitions for that word." Heather responded, a hint of amusement in her tone as she and Timmy set the shopping bags they were carrying down by the door. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Trixie, I hope the stuff Vicki said didn't come off as _too_ harsh, she can just be a bit overprotective of her little Twerp!" She pulled Timmy close as she said this, snaking her left arm around his shoulders as she ground the knuckles of her right hand into his hair, knocking his pink hat off his head.

"Ah-! Q-Quit it! First Vicki, now you too?! What is with older women abusing me today-y-y?!" The brunet struggled in the twenty-one year old's grasp, bringing his hands up to defend his scalp from the girl's unrelenting assault, before he finally twisted around in her grip, stuck his tongue out, and dragged it up along her forearm.

"Agh! Ew!" Heather recoiled almost instantly, releasing the fifteen year old and skipping a few steps backward from him as she wiped his saliva off her arm. "I can't believe you do that _every_ time!"

"Can't argue with the results!" Timmy remarked in triumph, then stuck his tongue out at his older friend. " _I_ can't believe you still try to put me in a headlock, even though you know by now that I'm gonna lick your arm to get out of it!" He chuckled, turning away from the blonde to face his girlfriend. "Anyway, I'll… Text you later tonight?"

"Sure! I should be free after dinner, around eight, I think." Trixie nodded and smiled warmly at Timmy, then made for her front door, only to turn halfway around as he fingers curled around the doorknob. "Oh! And it was nice meeting you, Helena! Bye!" She waved at Timmy and Heather, then disappeared into her house, shutting the front door behind her.

"You think she dyes it?" The blue-eyed girl spoke up, casting a sly glance down at the brunet.

"Huh? Dyes what?" The teen looked up at the older girl, clearly confused by her question.

"Her hair. She seems too forgetful to _not_ be a blonde. I mean, Helena? How hard is it to remember my name?"

"Well _you're_ blonde, aren't you? You're not forgetful." The fifteen year old pointed out, gesturing at Heather's somewhat dark-blonde hair.

"Dirty blonde is different from regular blonde. Mine's a bit closer to honey than true blonde." The twenty-one year old stated matter-of-factly, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her left ear. "And you're avoiding the question."

"No, I don't. Her parents both have black hair like her, and her hair's always been black for as long as I've known her, even down to the roots. And don't take her forgetting your name too personally, she used to call me Tommy for the longest time, even after we started dating!" Timmy laughed quietly, figuring his girlfriend's forgetfulness was just another of her quirks, kind of like when he found out she pretends to be a boy to go buy comic books, a quirk she _still_ seemingly wasn't ready to tell him about.

"And her doing that didn't bother you? I mean, is she forgetful, or does she just not care enough to commit people's names to memory? Her own _boyfriend's_ , even?" The blonde crossed her arms as she finished, awaiting a response from the brunet, and noticing that his smile had dropped ever so slightly.

"She's… Just forgetful, that's all." The buck-toothed teen rubbed the back of his head, realizing just how unsure he sounded. When he was ten, he'd always thought Trixie was absolutely perfect. She was beautiful, was always surrounded by her friends and people who would cater to her every whim, and while she wasn't _always_ nice to him, he looked past that, figuring it had a lot to do with him not being popular like she was, and he assumed his own circle of friends might have had something to do with it too, what with Chester, AJ, and Tootie all being social outcasts at their school themselves. "I… I think once she warms up to you, she'll probably start remembering your name, and Vicki's too… Well, maybe. She seemed pretty annoyed today after Vicki said what she did… Where'd that come from, anyway?"

"Oh, that? That was..." Heather turned toward the driveway where Vicki's car was still parked and idling, the redhead within currently preoccupied with checking her phone. _"Crap. Can't exactly tell Timmy the truth here, not if Vicki's plan is going to work… Whatever the Hell her_ plan _actually_ is _..."_ She thought to herself, her gaze drifting back over to the boy. "She's… Protective of you; you know that. I don't really know Trixie all that well myself, but Vicki's been hearing about her from you for a while now, and she's obviously had enough time to get to know her..."

"Well yeah, I've talked to her about Trixie…" The teen trailed off, his eyes momentarily drifting back over to Trixie's front door. "...A lot, to be honest. Maybe I told her something that gave her the wrong idea, though..." Timmy bowed his head and closed his eyes as he crossed his arms, trying to remember if he'd ever said anything that might have been related to Vicki's somewhat cutting insinuation back at the mall.

"Y'ever talk to her about you guys' relationship? Maybe-"

 _Honk!_

"You two having a heart to heart over there without me?" Vicki called from the ajar passenger-side door. "C'mon, Twerp. You can talk to Heather in the car, I gotta bring her home so she can get up for work bright and early tomorrow!"

"Hehehe… And she calls your _girlfriend_ the princess..." Heather chuckled, shaking her head and shrugging at her friend's impatience. "We'd better not keep her Highness waiting, right, Timmy?"

"Hah… No, better not." The fifteen year old sighed out as he picked up his hat and returned it to his head, then followed after the blonde and came up alongside her on her right. "I know the two of us are on good terms now, but I doubt that'll last, especially since Trixie asked me to talk to her about how she was rude to her at the mall..."

"So why risk it then? Let Vicki be Vicki, she _is_ driving you two pretty much wherever you want to go. Kinda gives her the right to speak her mind, doesn't it?"

"But Trixie's my _girlfriend_! I'm not supposed to just… _Let_ people put her down, am I?" Timmy looked up at the older girl, the somewhat desperate look on his face clearly expressing how torn he was between two of the most important people in his life. Vicki was his babysitter, and while they didn't agree on _everything_ , he did finally have what he'd wanted when he first met her at eight years old: her friendship. At the same time, Trixie was his _girlfriend_ , and while they weren't quite as affectionate as most movies and TV shows portrayed girlfriends and boyfriends to be, he did really like her, and being around her. He wanted them both in his life, not to have to choose one and lose what he had with the other!

"No, of course not, but you don't know-" Heather cut herself short, taking a momentary pause upon realizing she'd almost jeopardized her best friend's plan. She certainly didn't dislike Trixie as much as the redhead clearly did, but she could see where Vicki was coming from. Timmy's girlfriend, whether it was consciously or not; _was_ using him to buy her things she could undoubtedly afford with no trouble herself, and almost three years was a _Hell_ of a long time to be dating somebody, yet _not_ show them much in the way of affection. Kissing in public she could understand, it tended to make people uncomfortable, and a lot of people just preferred to do stuff like that in private. Shying away from someone when they wanted to put their arm around you though? Avoiding something like holding hands? Not even so much as a _hug_ in the entire time they'd been dating? It all just further hammered home the idea that Trixie really _was_ being disingenuous with Timmy, and was letting him put in all the work in the relationship. As far as Heather was concerned, Timmy deserved someone better; someone who actually cared for him as much as he did for them.

Her pace slowed a bit as she tried to come up with what she figured would be a suitable response for the brunet. "Look Timmy, I actually _don't_ have to work tomorrow, Vicki just really wanted to get going tonight, and I did too. Only reason I'm telling you this is because you, me, and her are gonna hang out tomorrow and figure this whole thing out together, all right? I know Vicki might've come off a bit harsh towards Trixie, but… I think she _does_ want the best for you, and so do I."

"Really?! You're not? Th-Then why didn't you say so!" Timmy beamed at the girl excitedly. "I like hanging out with you two-"

"H-Hey! I wasn't supposed to tell you, keep it dow-… Ugh, not like it matters now, anyway..." The blonde pinched the bridge of her nose as she and Timmy reached Vicki's car, the redhead playfully smirking at her in amusement.

"Just can't keep a secret, can you?" Vicki's grin turned into a full-blown smile as her best friend pushed the passenger seat forward to allow Timmy to get in, then sat down herself, her cheeks flushed a light pink color.

"Rrgh... So I'm a bad liar!" Heather threw her arms up in exasperation, then crossed them and turned to face away from Vicki, her gaze trained on the cement path leading up to Trixie's front door.

"So… Wait, what _are_ we doing tomorrow?" Timmy asked in a quizzical tone of voice as he leaned forward, his attention shifting back and forth between his babysitter and her friend.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Timmy." The blonde muttered out flatly, before finally turning her head to face Vicki again, awaiting a response form the redhead. "Anything you're willing to share, Vicki?"

"We're just hanging out at my house." The pink-eyed girl shrugged as she buckled her seat belt, making sure her two passengers did the same before she shifted her car into reverse and backed down the Tang residence's long driveway. Upon reaching the street, she shifted back into drive and quickly left the ritzy, upper-class neighborhood behind. "My parents are gonna be running errands all day, so it'll just be us three… And maybe Tootie, dunno if she's got plans or not."

"So you haven't _actually_ planned anything yet, have you?" Heather deadpanned at her best friend.

"Beyond the three of us hanging out? No, not really." Vicki let up on her car's gas pedal as the familiar houses of the neighborhood the three called home came into view. "I figure… Video games? Movies? Maybe… Pizza?" The redhead looked into her rear-view mirror at her charge, smirking as his eyes lit up with excitement.

" _Definitely_ pizza!" Timmy corrected the older girl, his tone indicating he was already sold on the idea of hanging out with her and Heather tomorrow.

"There, see?" The red-haired twenty-one year old turned her attention to Heather as she pulled her car over in front of the blonde's house. "We got games, pizza, and movies. Those sound like agreeable terms for our _plan_ tomorrow, Heather?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at Vicki, again wondering just _what_ was going through her friend's head. She certainly seemed confident that all the pieces of her plan were falling into place, but then, Vicki _usually_ appeared confident, even in situations where she really _was_ out of her element. The time where the two of them broke into the school swimming pool again sprang to mind, as just when they gotten out of the pool and put their clothes on, a couple of their school's security guards came into the gym and started searching the locker rooms. What _should_ have been a tense affair(and it most definitely _was_ for Heather) ended up being little more than a quiet, stealthy jog through the boys' locker room, out into the main hallway of the school, and before she knew it, they were walking out the front doors of Dimmsdale High like they owned the place.

Vicki might not be the best at putting a plan together, but dammit was she good at thinking on the fly, and confident to boot.

The blonde rolled her eyes, her lips forming a slight pout. "Not like I got anything else going on… Plus, I get to hang out with my favorite Shrimp!" She teased, looking over her shoulder into the back seat.

"H-Hey! I'm… Almost up to your shoulders..." The brunet blushed a bright pink, breaking eye contact with Heather as he looked away evasively.

"Hehehe! And considering I'm about five-nine… That puts you at what? _Barely_ five feet?" The older girl's blue eyes danced with amusement as Timmy grew progressively more flustered.

"Five feet and _half_ an inch!" Timmy exclaimed defensively, sticking his tongue out at Heather, prompting both her and Vicki to exchange rather unconvinced glances.

"Impressive." The two girls deadpanned flatly, both looking into the back seat at the fifteen year old, whose blush now rivaled the color of a ripened tomato.

"Y-You can't do this to me!" The brunet whined out, looking back and forth between the two twenty one year old girls. "It- T-Two against one isn't fair!"

"He's cute when he's flustered, isn't he?" Heather turned to face Vicki, pretending to ignore Timmy's plight.

"Pfft, if you think Twerp's are cute." Vicki scoffed in response, mimicking her friend's feigned ignorance of the teen's presence.

"I-I'm sitting _right_ here!" Timmy unbuckled himself and pulled himself forward with the backs of the front seats, positioning his head somewhat between Heather and Vicki's, if a bit lower due to his stature.

"Oh, so you are." The blonde replied in a gently mocking tone as she focused on the fifteen year old.

"Couldn't see you from up here, at first." The redhead shot her charge a wry smile, at last causing him to realize that the two girls were just messing with him.

"Urgh..." He fell back into his seat and crossed his arms with a huff, brow furrowed in annoyance. "What, is it 'Pick on Timmy Day', or something?"

"Long as you keep acting all frustrated and cute it is!" Heather laughed as she unbuckled herself and opened the passenger side door, then got out. "Ah… Sat down for too long, my ass is killing me..." The blonde took a moment to stretch, then bent over and looked back into the car. "You wanna sit up front, Shrimp, or…?"

Timmy responded by diving in between the front seats, then reoriented himself into a sitting position in the passenger seat, before finally buckling himself back in.

"You _know_ he's been wanting to sit up front with his favorite babysitter since we dropped Trixie off, heehee!" Vicki giggled, then laughed as her comment again made Timmy's cheeks pinken in color.

"Mngh… I like sitting up front, that's- C-Can we _go_ already?! You two are the worst..." The teen pouted, keeping his gaze trained straight ahead to avoid making contact with either of the two girls.

"Aw… C'mon, Timmy. It's all in good fun!" Heather's left hand darted out and settled into the brunet's hair, knocking his hat off once again as she gently ruffled his brown locks.

"Ah! Stop- Quit it!" He lightly swatted her hand away, eliciting an amused giggle from the blonde girl.

"Alright, alright… I'll let you two get going, since I _still_ have to get up early tomorrow, according to Vicki." Heather nodded as she stepped back and pushed the passenger door closed.

"That's right, don't you even _think_ about sleeping in, either, Missy! We're making the most of tomorrow!" Vicki declared in a commanding tone, pointing a finger at her friend.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it, I'll be sure to set my alarm and everything… If-Eh… If I'm not up, just come in and get me, you've got a key. Anyway, drive safe you two, have a good night." The twenty-one year old took a few steps backward toward her house, waving to Timmy and Vicki as they did the same, then drove off. "I have to get up _early_? What for though? Is _Timmy_ even gonna be up as early as she wants _me_ to be?" The blonde hung her head wearily, then spun around on her heel and made for her front door, taking one last look at the twinkling stars beginning to come out, before wordlessly heading into her house and shutting the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

Vicki sat in her car, which itself sat in the driveway of Heather's house, her phone raised up and gently pressed against her ear as she listened to it ring; this being the third attempt she'd made to get in touch with her friend. Suffice to say, it was the next morning, the same morning she'd told Heather to get up early for so the two of them could put her little 'plan' into action. "Saw this coming a mile away..." The redhead muttered to herself as she canceled the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket, then shut off her car and got out, before walking around the now ajar door and giving it a light kick to close it. "Ugh..." Vicki fanned herself with her hand as she strode up the walkway that led to the front door of her friend's house. "Jeez, only a little past ten and it's already close to ninety..."

Unlike the day before, the redhead had chosen to dress a bit lighter today: her black jeans were replaced by a pair of black shorts of the same material, her green t-shirt with a brighter, almost neon green tank-top that didn't _quite_ reach the waist of her shorts, exposing a bit of her lower stomach, and while she again wore the sneakers she'd bought the day before, she wore thin, very short socks that just barely peeked out of her footwear.

Upon reaching the door, the pink-eyed girl raised her hand to knock, then paused for a moment to think it over, before finally taking her key ring back out to unlock the door with the spare house key Heather had given her. "Hello? Mister- ...Heather's dad? It's Vicki, I'm coming in...?" She stepped into the house, gently shutting the front door behind her.

Due to it being in the same neighborhood as her and Timmy's houses, Heather's home bore a more than passing resemblance to theirs, both inside and out. On the outside, the house was a near carbon copy, save for the light blue coating of paint Heather's dad had given it shortly after they first moved in. The front door led directly into the living room, and on one's immediate right was the staircase leading to the second floor, while the left wall held the doorway that connected the living room to the kitchen. Below the stairs was a door that led to a second set of stairs down to the basement, and the wall directly opposite one when they entered held a door leading to the first of two bathrooms in the house, the other being on the second floor. Even the layout of the furniture was similar, with the living room containing a couch like Timmy and Vicki's, though Heather's was tilted at an angle to face the TV, which sat in the near left corner of the living room. And as with Timmy's house, an end table sat on either side of the couch, while a longer, wider coffee table sat in front of the couch itself, a smaller two-person couch sitting next to that, and oriented toward the wall that held the front door.

"Huh… Weird. Heather's gotta still be asleep, but where's her dad?" Vicki muttered to herself quietly as she glanced around the living room, the TV still off. "Better-Whoa!" She stepped toward the stairs, not bothering to look where she was going, only to trip over some unseen object, prompting her to look at her feet and notice her friend's brown leather boots; haphazardly discarded on the floor. "Ugh, probably kicked 'em off as soon as she got in..." The redhead carefully stepped over her friend's boots, one of which laid against and was partially draped over the first stair leading to the second floor.

Shaking her head, the twenty-one year old quickly climbed the stairs, then made her way down the hall, passing the doors leading to the bathroom and Heather's father's bedroom, before stopping in front of the door leading to the blonde's room and raising her hand to knock. Again, however; she stopped herself at the last second, her hand mere centimeters from the door. "Hm… I _could_ be nice and just knock, but..." An evil grin crept across the girl's face, her pink eyes glinting playfully. "Where's the fun in that?" She lowered her hand, instead curling its fingers around the doorknob and gripping it, then slowly and carefully turned it, making sure to do so as quietly as possible. With the knob turned fully, she slowly pushed the door inward, allowing her to peek into her friend's room, and catch a glimpse of the girl, currently sleeping peacefully beneath the covers.

"Heheh..." Vicki snickered, her voice barely above a whisper as she pushed the door open _just_ enough to allow her to slip into the room, then silently spun around and pushed it closed, while making sure the doorknob didn't click as she released it. With that done, she turned around on her heel and sneaked across her friend's room, stopping just in front of Heather's bed. "Now~… How should I go about this…?"

 _Beep-!_

Vicki's left hand shot out quick as a flash of lightning, practically stabbing the alarm button on Heather's alarm clock with her index finger. "Sh!" She hissed at the offending device, glaring daggers at the digital face plate, which indicated the time as 10:15 in the morning. Her gaze quickly darted over to the blonde, who let out a small moan, but otherwise remained asleep, her face from the nose down nestled under the large comforter she slept beneath. "I know~!" She spoke in a hushed tone and leaned forward, grasping the headboard of Heather's bed with her left hand to hold herself up, while bringing her right hand up to gently pull her friend's blanket down a few inches, exposing her face. "Boop!" The redhead jabbed her index finger into Heather's cheek, only to frown after a moment of silence(and no reaction from the unconscious girl).

"Mngh..." The redhead hummed out a growl, only to jump in surprise as the air conditioner in the window on the other side of Heather's bed loudly switched to its cooling mode, the internal sensor likely responding to the temperature in the room rising above whatever the blonde had set the machine to. _"_ _No wonder she's sleeping under such a heavy blanket, she'd probably be freezing otherwise..."_ Vicki mused to herself, quirking an eyebrow up in intrigue as a light bulb turned on in her head, the evil grin from before returning in full force. "Heehee… Oh yeah, that'll work..." Slightly bending over her friend's sleeping form again, she carefully grasped the edge of the comforter with each hand, then tightened her grip, before giving the blanket a strong tug, yanking it off the blonde. "Wakey-wa-…" The twenty-one year old caught herself, taking a moment to look her best friend up and down before she spoke again, the corners of her mouth curling upward to form an even wider grin. "Ooh-lala~…!"

Before her laid Heather, still asleep and laying on her side in bed, clad in little more than a pink, nearly transparent nightie that didn't even reach halfway down her thighs, and a pair of white panties that left little to the imagination without _quite_ being what Vicki would consider a thong. "Nnh..." The blonde let out another quiet moan, her face scrunching up a little with a wince as she shivered, her body visibly tensing up from the rapidly fading warmth her comforter had provided. "Wha…?" Her eyelids slowly slid open, her vision unfocused and hazy as she adjusted to wakefulness. "Vi… Vicki…?"

"Rise and shine, Sleepyhead!" The redhead exclaimed in a clearly amused tone of voice, continuing to grin down at her best friend as she looked up at her, obviously confused thanks to her still awakening state. "Nice jammies, by the way."

"Jammies…?" The blue-eyed girl questioned sleepily, her gaze lingering on her red-haired friend for a moment before she looked down at herself, her bare skin breaking out with goosebumps as it registered the cold air it was suddenly being exposed to. "Wha-!" Heather exclaimed in shock, her cheeks blushing a bright shade of pink as her eyes widened, her mind finally awake enough to realize what was happening. "Wh-What are you doing here?!" Heather sat bolt upright and shifted into a kneeling position on her bed, orienting herself to face Vicki as her hands dropped into her lap in a poor attempt to preserve what little modesty she had left.

"Waking you up, obviously." The redhead replied in a nonchalant tone, tucking the pilfered comforter under her left arm. "I tried calling you from outside, but you _did_ tell me to just let myself in yesterday..." She shot the blonde a sly smirk as she finished, only to very slightly narrow her eyes as she looked at the girl, her gaze focusing on Heather's chest; quite visible thanks to the transparent quality of her nightgown. "Well look at you… You never told me you got your nips pierced!"

"Ah-!" Heather gasped, her blush turning from bright pink to full-on crimson at her friend's comment, her right arm quickly reaching over to grab her pillow and haphazardly cover herself with it. "Y-You were _supposed_ to knock, Vicki!" The blonde glared at her friend, who was having just a little _too_ much fun, in her opinion.

"Afraid I don't recall you telling me to knock. You said for me to let myself in with the key you gave me, and wake you up..." The girl shrugged, letting her friend's comforter drop to the floor with a muffled thump. "Never mind that though, let's talk about _those_!" Vicki nodded at her friend, her eyes trained specifically on the girl's breasts, or rather, the pillow obscuring her view of them. "C'mon, lemme see 'em!" The redhead stepped over to the bed and climbed onto it, dropping onto her hands and knees as Heather scooted backward across the bed.

"Vicki-! Jeez, personal space mean anything to you?" Heather stopped a few inches from the edge of her bed, her blush just barely beginning to fade. Despite how embarrassed she'd felt just a moment before, the girl was already beginning to calm down, an amused grin creeping across her face at her best friend's almost childlike curiosity.

"Nah, not really." Vicki shrugged indifferently as she crawled a bit closer to her friend, to the point where she was very nearly hovering over her. "Now, can I see, or do I need to take your pillow away?"

"Heh, and you call _Timmy_ the perv..." Heather shook her head back and forth, but, willingly complied with her friend's request. After all, if she couldn't show her best friend her piercings, who _could_ she? Not to mention, it gave her the chance to get some feedback on how they looked, since the only people who knew prior to today were her and the owner of the shop where she'd gotten them. "They're not really anything crazy, just a couple of… Agh, I might as well just show you, rather than tell you about them..." She loosened her grip on her pillow, before gently tossing it back near the headboard of her bed. With that done, she sat up straight, then leaned back a little and held herself up with her arms, her cheeks now stained with a very light dusting of pink similar in color to her nightie. "So, uh… Whaddya think?"

"Hm..." The pink-eyed girl brought her hand up to her chin in contemplation, her eyes darting back and forth between her friend's somewhat dark-pink nipples, each roughly the size of a quarter in diameter; and the silver-colored, barbell-style studs pierced through either one. "I think they're cute." The redhead concluded, nodding approvingly as she brought her free hand up, giving Heather's right nipple a teasing little flick that made the girl flinch.

"Nnh! Watch it! They're… Still kinda sensitive..." Again, the blonde's face lit up with a blush, her embarrassment at her friend's rather forward action only compounded by the unintentional moan she let out.

"Hehehe… So it would seem." Vicki at last scooted back several inches, giving the blonde she shared the bed with some space. "When did you get them done, anyway?"

"Uh… A couple weeks ago, I think? Might be close to a month now, actually…" Heather lightly tapped her chin in thought. "Went to that tattoo place in the mall, Ink'd?"

"Right… The one on the second floor, above Movie Depot. Didn't know they did piercings, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised..." The redhead trailed off, before shrugging to herself and hopping off the bed. "So… You get those for anyone in particular, or…?"

"Oh please, like I could hide a boyfriend from _your_ nosy ass?" Heather replied knowingly, raising an eyebrow at her friend, who upon standing up straight again, began to mill about and investigate her room. "As for _why_ I got piercings… Well, why'd you get your ears pierced?"

Vicki pulled open the drawer in the blonde's end table, using her free hand to sift its contents about, which amounted to a few rings and bracelets Heather no longer wore, the cotton wristbands she had opted not to wear at the mall yesterday, and an old, somewhat bulky taser that lacked a battery. "Eh, guess I was going through a phase." She shut the drawer, bringing her left hand up to gently touch the corresponding ear's lobe with her thumb and index finger. "I think I was… Eighteen when I got them pierced? ...Not that it matters much now, since they've obviously healed." She ran her finger along the soft flesh, as whole and piercing free as it had been when she was born. "Thought about getting my belly button done too, but… I'unno, never ended up doing it."

The blonde stared at her friend as she turned away from the end table and made her way over to her dresser, putting her back to Heather. "Brr..." She shivered, rubbing her upper arms with her hands as she twisted around in place, then shut off her air conditioner. "Well _these_ had nothing to do with a phase, I just felt like doing something different."

"And what, they don't bother you when your skin brushes against your clothes? Or when you wear a bra?" Vicki glanced over her shoulder, shooting the blonde a sly grin, her right eye locking onto the girl's(nearly) bare chest.

"Not anymore, no." Heather at last crawled across her mattress and out of bed, snatching up the white sleeveless vest she'd worn the day before as she stood up straight. "Though they _are_ still a bit sensitive to rough flicks from my best friend…!" She remarked in a mock-annoyed tone as she came to a stop next to Vicki, in front of her dresser, then gave the twenty-one year old a playful but rough push with her left hip, causing her to stumble out of the way of the dresser. "At any rate, you think you can handle behaving for ten minutes while I go grab a quick shower?"

"Wha? Before we go?" Vicki questioned incredulously, her gaze momentarily drifting over to her friend's alarm clock, before refocusing on the blonde. "I'm gonna be late picking Timmy up at this rate! Can't you… Go without…?"

"I _could_ -" Heather began as she pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and produced an orange t-shirt, the same color as the one she'd been wearing yesterday, though this one had(admittedly still very short) sleeves. "-But I'd prefer to take a shower, or at the very least, wash my hair. Gimme a break, V. I'll be in and out, just… Why not go get Timmy while I'm in there? I'll _definitely_ be out by the time you two get back here, so…?" As she spoke, Heather quickly snagged her underwear, another of her olive-colored skirts, and a pair of socks, now heaped into a small pile in her arms, along with a towel.

" _Or_ , you could throw on those clothes, let me bring you to my house like we planned, and just shower there! It's just Tootie there right now, and she's just messing around on her computer; she's not gonna bother you."

"And what? Put on my clean clothes _without_ showering first? Kinda defeats the purpose of changing into clean clothes in the first place, don'tcha think?" Heather finished with a bemused look, only to frown in outright bewilderment as Vicki didn't answer, but instead took several steps toward her, then leaned in and inhaled deeply through her nose.

"You smell fine to me." The redhead replied nonchalantly, then brought her hand up and touched Heather's hair, before running her fingers through her blonde locks. "Hair doesn't feel particularly greasy, either. I think you'll survive 'til we get to my house."

"Vicki, that's not the-… Hah..." The blue-eyed girl sighed in defeat, figuring she did _kind of_ owe Vicki, since she accidentally slept in.

"Hey, if you don't wanna 'dirty' your clothes, just stay in the nightie and lacy panties. I'm sure you won't get _too_ many looks on the way out to the car..." Vicki looked the blonde up and down to emphasize what little she was wearing in the way of clothing, before settling her eyes back on Heather's face, a devious smirk playing at her lips.

"Alright already, you made your point. Just… Turn around so I can get changed." Heather stepped away from her dresser and back over toward her bed, allowing Vicki to in turn move in front of it again, her back once more facing Heather as she scanned the various items atop the dresser.

"I'll try my hardest to ignore the urge to sneak a peek at you naked." The pink-eyed girl deadpanned, taking the opportunity to look over her shoulder anyway, though her eyes drifted back over to the dresser as Heather lifted her pink nightie over her head, and discarded it on her bedroom floor.

"It's not like you've pretty much _seen_ everything there is to see already." Heather replied in a sarcastic tone, wondering for a moment if it would've been wiser to have her best friend wait out in the hall, though she quickly dispelled the thought; it wasn't as if she really _minded_ the redhead's presence, either.

"You should sleep with a bra on. Or lock your bedroom door." Vicki snatched up one of the picture frames sitting atop Heather's dresser, which depicted a somewhat younger Heather alongside her father, a thirty-something-ish man with brown hair, grayish eyes behind a pair of glasses and understated facial features. Not necessarily feminine so much as just soft, the type of person who was probably more accustomed to a desk job than something manual or laborious. In the picture, he wore a brown, waist-length jacket over a bluish button-up shirt, and dark blue jeans, his lower legs and feet just out of frame.

"Yeah, guess I ought to. No telling the next time some crazy redhead's gonna invite herself into my house and ogle me in my pajamas." Heather responded in a dry, sardonic tone as she slipped off the underwear she'd been sleeping in and put on the bra and panties she'd taken out of her dresser.

"I distinctly remember _you_ telling _me_ to let myself in, Heather. Not to mention, calling _that_ nightie and _those_ panties, 'pajamas' is giving them too much credit. You're basically wearing lingerie to bed and I mean, I've still got a _pulse_ , y'know. I can appreciate some _fine_ art, can't I?" The twenty-one year old returned the picture frame to the dresser, placing it down next to another that depicted a _significantly_ younger Heather with her dad, and finally one of just Heather that looked to have been taken recently, probably within the last year or so. "Off-topic, where's your dad, anyway? I figured his car was in the garage, but I didn't see him downstairs when I came in, so…?"

"Oh, he's off on one of his book-signing things; he called yesterday, after you dropped me off here and said something about being in… Arizona, I think?" The twenty-one year old slipped on her skirt, followed by her t-shirt, then sat back down on her bed to put on her socks. "'Kay, I'm decent now, you can turn around."

"Wait, he's not even _here_?" Vicki questioned in a mildly surprised tone. "You should've told me so yesterday! The three of us could've come over here instead!"

"Wha- Are you kidding me? _Now_ you say something?" Heather frowned at her red-haired friend just as she finished putting on both of her socks. "Why not just let me take my shower then and bring Timmy over here?"

"No, no… You're basically finished getting dressed already, let's just go and you can shower at my house." The redhead nodded over her shoulder toward the door as she stared at the blonde, who again rose to her feet and zipped up her vest, then grabbed her phone off the end table and slipped it into her breast pocket. "Look at the bright side, Timmy probably isn't even up yet, since he likes to sleep in, which means you get to take as long as you like in the shower while I go get him. That's a silver lining, right?"

"I guess so." The blue-eyed girl shrugged her shoulders with indifference as she followed after Vicki, who'd already opened her bedroom door and made her way out into the hall.

"Jeez, don't look so enthusiastic." Vicki replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes and headed down the hall, Heather falling into step behind her once she closed her bedroom door.

"Agh..." The blonde yawned loudly as she slowly followed Vicki downstairs and into the living room. "I'm just tired, that's all. Was up all night watching episodes of old shows from when I was younger."

" _Right_ , 'old episodes', that what the kids are calling porn these days?" The redhead asked teasingly, earning her a flat look from the blonde.

"I wouldn't know. I'm an adult, unlike you." Heather narrowed her eyes, shooting the pink-eyed girl a sly grin as she bent down to pick up her boots and slip her feet into them.

"We're the same age!" Vicki laughed, pulling open the front door and heading outside into the muggy Dimmsdale morning.

"I know what I said." Heather deadpanned, shutting her front door behind her and locking it with her house key, before dropping it into another of her vest's pockets.

"Pfft, if becoming an adult means being less fun and getting all snarky, I think I'd rather stay a kid!" As if to further emphasize her point, Vicki spun around on her heel and stuck her tongue out at Heather, then blew a raspberry at her.

"I honestly can't believe I'm just a little under a month older than you." The blue-eyed girl remarked dryly, shaking her head at her twenty-one year old friend's childish antics.

"Whatever, you can't deny that I'm a lot of fun to be around." The redhead replied dismissively as she got back into her car, then unlocked the passenger side door so the blonde could do the same. "Who's your best friend, again?" She questioned in a knowing tone, her eyes dancing with amusement at the answer she knew was coming.

For a moment, Heather simply stared at Vicki, one eyebrow quirked up as if to ask 'Really?', though she soon rolled her eyes and looked away as the red-haired girl continued to unflinchingly stare at her, the corners of her mouth twitching to show that she was fighting off a smirk. "Ugh… Not like I've got a lot of _options_ , Vicki."

"Uh-huh…? C'mon, I wanna hear you say it~..." Vicki sang out giddily, slowly leaning over the console and over to Heather's side of the car.

The blonde let out a huff of air through her nostrils. The redhead really did have almost no concept of personal space. _"Or she just doesn't care."_ The girl thought to herself, before opening her mouth to speak. "You're my best friend..."

"You know it!" Vicki exclaimed happily, completely leaning out of her seat and across the console to wrap her arms around the blonde and pull her into an affectionate hug.

"Even if you _are_ a mischievous pain in the butt sometimes..." The older of the two girls muttered out, though she still leaned into the hug all the same. Just a little.

"Eh, I'll still take it." Vicki released Heather and returned to her seat, before at last starting her car and pulling back out of her friend's driveway.

"What's up with you, today? You seem… Excited, for some reason." The blue-eyed girl asked as they turned off of her street, knowing that, while she and Vicki _were_ best friends, the redhead rarely went so far as hugging her. It wasn't necessarily out of character, but it was a bit strange, and certainly unexpected.

"Just in a good mood, that's all! It's been a while since the three of us have been able to just hang out, since Timmy's practically _glued_ to that little narcissist he calls a girlfriend. Only reason I lied about you having work was so the Princess didn't get suspicious… I don't doubt that if she suspects something, she'll suddenly get all clingy and try to keep Timmy away from us so she can keep him to herself." The redhead paused for a moment, noticing that Heather hadn't yet replied and was simply shooting her a skeptical look. "She seems the type."

"Uh yeah, most people tend to try and hang onto to their partners when they feel their relationship is being threatened, doesn't necessarily mean something's _wrong_ with that." Heather replied, doing her best to remain a neutral party, though she wasn't _entirely_ convinced by her own argument, as it was clear to her that Trixie wasn't giving the relationship the same amount of effort that Timmy was.

" _No_ , but you _saw_ how she was at the mall. Either she just likes using Timmy because she likes the attention, she's got something going on behind his back, or both. Whichever it is, we need to get him to snap out of his little crush, and either get him to kick her to the curb, or find a way for her to dump him… Though I dunno how we're gonna do that, considering she'd probably just make him buy even _more_ stuff to earn her forgiveness for something..." Vicki narrowed her eyes as she spoke, her tone laced with venom.

"Hm… Crap, you might have a point..." Heather tilted her head forward, cupping her chin in thought. "That's not even factoring how Timmy might react to being dumped, either. I mean, he's clearly been bitten pretty hard by the love bug for this girl, and after trying so hard to get her to go out with him… He'd probably take the breakup pretty hard..." She muttered to herself, only to look up as she felt the car come to a stop, and realize that they were already parked in the driveway of Vicki's house.

"Which is why I'd rather not take that option unless we _absolutely_ have to. I put the kid through enough when we were younger, last thing I wanna do is make him _more_ miserable..." The twenty-one year old trailed off plaintively, her smirk having faded into a slight frown.

Heather was quick to pick up on the regretful tone to her friend's voice, and leaned over to give her a light shove with her left hand. "C'mon, V. Don't be like that, you _know_ Timmy likes being around you, he pretty much said so himself yesterday."

"I dunno, maybe… He probably _really_ just likes hanging out with _you_. Far as he's concerned, I'm probably still the 'evil babysitter' who used to yell at him on a daily basis..." She fell against the back of her seat, the impact producing a muffled thud.

"Hah..." The blonde sighed out, mimicking her friend as she too thudded against the back of her seat, then crossed her arms. "Well… If this plan you've got ends up going the way you want it to, maybe you'll become the 'slightly less evil babysitter' who _also_ helped him get out of a relationship with some girl who just wanted to use him?" Heather offered in a somewhat cheery tone.

"...It's kind of a mouthful, don'tcha think?" The pink-eyed girl replied hesitantly, though as she did, a lopsided grin began to creep across her face.

"And _you're_ kind of a smartass, don't _you_ think?" The blonde shot back flatly, once again rolling her eyes as she opened the passenger door and got out. "C'mon, the sooner you let me in, the sooner I can get to my bubble bath."

"Bubble bath?" The redhead parroted back as she turned off her car and got out. "Thought you were taking a shower?"

"I was. But considering I've got _all_ this extra time on my hands while you go get Timmy, _and_ the fact that a _certain_ best friend decided to wake me up early to help with a plan she _still_ hasn't told me about, I think I've earned the right to a nice, luxurious bath, don't you?" Heather cheekily grinned down at her friend from the landing of the porch, her hands settled on her hips expectantly.

"Suppose that's fair." Vicki conceded with a nod as she climbed the trio of steps that led up to her front door, joining Heather on the porch. "But if you use all my bubble bath stuff, you're buying me more, got it?"

"I'll think about it." The blonde shrugged nonchalantly, following after the redhead as she opened the front door and headed inside.

"Ooh… You're lucky I need your help for this plan..." Vicki growled out as she closed the front door, trying to sound intimidating.

Unfortunately, this was Heather she was talking to, someone who'd long ago learned that while the pink-eyed girl absolutely was _not_ afraid to make good on a threat, anyone whom she called friend was generally safe from her wrath; the worst Vicki had ever done to her was probably letting herself into her room unannounced. "Maybe, but _you're_ lucky you've got a best friend who's willing to help you on so little information."

The twenty-one year old quickly turned to face Heather, her right arm raised and index finger extended as if to make a point. She opened her mouth to speak, but soon paused, closing it and letting her arm fall back down to her side as she realized the blonde was right. "Touche. I can admit, there's no way this plan would work if you weren't here to help."

"...Alright, now I'm seriously concerned, just _what_ _ **is**_ this plan, anyway? Wouldn't it go better if I at least knew _something_ , Vicki?" Heather tried to reason with the redhead, knowing that at this point, there _had_ to be something Vicki wasn't telling her; and with her apparently playing such a key role, according to what Vicki had just told her, she felt a bit entitled to some information.

"Heehee… Sorry, but my plan works out better if you go in a bit blind. I don't want you _acting_ the part, I want you _re_ acting genuinely, meaning the finer details are on a need-to-know basis. Don't worry though, it'll be worth the trouble and secrecy in the end." Vicki responded in a devious tone, flashing her teeth with a grin.

"...Yeah, I know that tone, think I'm gonna go..." The blonde inched toward the door, causing Vicki's confident grin to fade into a look of genuine worry.

"Hey- No, just wait a sec!" The redhead remarked in an almost desperate sounding tone as she stepped to her right, pressing the side of her body up against the front door.

Seeing her best friend react in such a way, Heather came to a stop. She wasn't _actually_ going to leave, even if Vicki _hadn't_ tried to stop her so suddenly, but now that she'd seemingly become so worried at the prospect of her leaving, she attempted to play it off, shooting Vicki a neutral, if somewhat intrigued expression.

"C'mon, I need your help if this is gonna work, please? Just go up and take a bath, use as much of that bubble bath stuff as you want, but _please_ stick around for this? If not for me, at least do it for Timmy…?" The normally stoic and confident girl practically begged in a pleading tone of voice, bringing her arms up and settling her hands on either of her blonde friend's shoudlers.

"Jeez, Vicki. I was only-" Heather began to speak, only to stare into her friend's eyes, which now looked to be on the verge of tears. _"The dreaded puppy-dog stare, we meet once more."_ She mused to herself, her lips screwing up and forming a sort of zigzag as she tried to keep from smiling. "Agh… Q-Quit it with the mushy stuff already..." She felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment and pouted, knowing deep down she was quickly and easily falling for one of the oldest tricks in her friend's book, and one she'd picked up from Timmy, no less! "...Alright, I'll help!" The blue-eyed girl laughed, gently swatting Vicki's hands off her shoulders. "I wasn't _really_ gonna leave anyway… Even if this little 'plan' of yours _is_ giving me a bad feeling..."

"Hehehe! Great, I knew I could count on you!" Vicki beamed at her reluctant friend, while mentally celebrating her little victory. _"Oh yeah, I've still got it!"_ "Trust me, it'll all make sense in a couple hours, I promise."

"Somehow I doubt that, Vicki." Heather deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. "Now, I believe I hear the bath calling for me, so if you'd like to lead the way?"

"I mean, you've been here before, pretty sure you _know_ where it is... But, eh, I have to go up real quick anyway, figure I'll throw in a load of laundry while I'm here." Vicki stepped around the blonde and began to climb the stairs, the telltale sound of a second pair of footsteps following after her a few seconds later.

"Sure you've got enough time? Aren't you supposed to be picking Timmy up soon?" Heather queried curiously as she followed the redhead up the stairs and down the hall, before they both stopped in front of the bathroom doorway. "His parents must have to be somewhere today, right?"

"Ah, you know them, they're probably already gone, and I'm willing to bet Timmy hasn't even gotten up yet, since he usually sleeps in if he doesn't have to go to school." Vicki flipped the light switch in the bathroom on as she spoke. "You know how a bathtub works, I presume?"

"I think I can figure it out, Vicki, thanks." The blonde quipped sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she turned and headed into the bathroom.

"Towels are your left, shampoo and everything else are on the shelves next to the tub." Vicki called over her shoulder, earning her another 'Thanks' from her friend, before she heard the bathroom door close. _"And..."_ She paused in the middle of the hall, listening for a good thirty seconds for the familiar click of the lock, before continuing on to her room when it never came. _"She_ still _forgets to lock the door."_ Upon opening the door to her room and heading inside, Vicki heard the bathtub faucet turn, after which she began to gather up some of her clothes to wash.

Meanwhile; in the bathroom, Heather tested the temperature of the water, making sure it was sufficiently hot before she added a generous amount of Vicki's bubbly bath soap to it. With that done, she quickly slid off her boots and socks, followed by her vest and shirt, then the rest of her clothing, which now lay scattered here and there at her feet. "Suppose I should at least _try_ to be neat, since it's not my house..." She muttered to herself, gathering up her clothes and setting them in a neat little pile on top of the hamper by the door.

Spinning around on her heel to face the tub, she soon took notice of how steamy the bathroom had become, the room now appearing to have a mildly thick fog settled over it. "Least I'll have a chance to cover myself before Vicki barges in to get another look at me in my birthday suit..." Heather mused to herself quietly as she padded over to the tub; now brimming with pink, fluffy foam, and shut the water off. She slowly got in, making sure the water hadn't become too hot while she wasn't watching it, and released a sigh of contentment as she sank in up to her neck. "Ahh~..."

Out in the hall, Vicki passed by the bathroom door, carrying her laundry basket with both arms, only to pause as she did, then take a few steps back and set her cargo down next to the door. Without bothering to knock, the redhead grasped the knob and turned it, then pushed the bathroom door open.

"Ah-! S-Seriously?!" Heather exclaimed in surprise, turning over onto her side in the tub and grabbing the edge to peek over it, leaving just her face from the nose-up visible. "Y'know they have the internet if you really wanna see naked ladies, right?"

"How'd you even know it was me?" Vicki questioned in the direction of the tub, the only thing she could see thanks to its thickness being a hazy, blonde outline of her friend's head.

"Who _else_ would it be _but_ you? ...Ya frickin' perv..." Much like her red-haired friend, Heather could barely see through the steam filling the bathroom, though her vibrantly-colored hair still somewhat gave the girl's position away.

"I'm _just_ making sure you're all set before I head out. Jeez, trying to be a good friend, here..." She muttered the last part out under her breath, though still loud enough to ensure Heather heard her. "...And besides, the internet doesn't have naked pictures of you."

"Something I can only assume you know because you've checked." The blonde teased, grinning as she imagined the blush on Vicki's face. "Anyway, yeah, I'm all set, thanks." She turned back over onto her back, relaxing into the hot water of the bath once again.

"Alright, I should be back in an hour, hour and a half, tops. You get hungry, you know where the fridge is." The pink-eyed girl began to shut the door, only to catch sight of her friend's clothes sitting in a small, neat pile on the hamper. _"Oh my, that's right!"_ Vicki thought to herself in an overly concerned-sounding tone. _"You were so worried about your clothes getting dirty because you didn't get to shower when you got up! I'd better be a good friend-"_ "-And wash them for you…!" She remarked in a low, devious tone, absconding with her friend's clothes as she shut the bathroom door...


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Yeah, so... Time for a long one. Sorry for this one being so late, I wanted a relatively simple chapter and then I got... Ideas. Those ideas turned this chapter into an absolute monster, and due to the the way I ended up writing it, I didn't feel right breaking it up into two chapters. Feedback is, as always, appreciated.

* * *

Vicki turned the dial on the washing machine, causing it to emit several audible clicks, which were soon followed by the sound of water flowing into it as she turned it on. "Good thing I thought to check her pockets..." The twenty-one year old cast a quick glance at the drying machine next to the washer, upon which sat Heather's phone, her wallet, brown leather boots, the keys for her house, and a small, silvery-colored Swiss army knife, the original color of which appeared to have long since faded. "Don't see why she doesn't just wear pants more often though..." She turned away from the washing machine with a light shrug and headed up the stairs out of the basement, putting her back in her living room. "Hm… Guess I should give the Twerp a buzz so he knows I'm coming to get him." Vicki mused aloud to herself, taking out her phone as she stepped over to and opened her front door.

 _Meanwhile…_

Timmy sat on an old, uncomfortably hard wooden bench, clad in a light blue button-up shirt worn under a plain white vest, and a pair of blue jeans with a black, leather belt, the buckle of which was slightly over-sized. On his feet he wore a pair of black rancher-style boots, sans the spurs such boots usually came with. Finally, around his neck he wore a pink bandanna, exactly the same color as the baseball cap he usually wore. "Hah..." He sighed out, slouching forward in his seat with his right elbow balanced on his knee, propping his head up in his hand. "Darn it all..." The teen muttered under his breath, slowly glancing around the room he was in. To his right and behind him were hard, rough wooden walls, and at the end of the bench he occupied, sitting in a corner, was a bucket; one he could only assume was the closest thing he and his current companion had to a toilet. To his left and straight on were thick, black iron bars, the kind you'd expect to see making up a jail cell. Fitting, considering where, but more importantly, _when_ , he was.

"Rrgh!" The fiery-haired girl he shared the cell with growled out, kicking the wall next to his head with all her might, missing him by mere centimeters.

"You're just gonna hurt yourself doing that, Vicki..." Timmy blinked his eyes closed, his tone heavy with exasperation. That had not been the first almost-kick to his face. Nor the second or third. By his count, it was the twenty-eighth. _"Or does that make twenty-nine?"_

"That's Vicky _the Kid_ , Shitbird!" The redhead leaned in close, her eyes blazing with fire as she glared daggers at the fifteen year old. "Mark my words, if by some miracle we get outta this, I'll make sure you _never_ forget my name again!" Her outfit had changed little since the last time the teen had seen her; same long-sleeved green undershirt and gray bandanna around her neck, same black vest with what looked like a green, stylized 'S' stitched into the fabric on each side, same black leather gloves and similarly-colored jeans, same brown leather belt bearing a yellow-gold buckle, and even the same black leather boots that matched her vest in terms of visual design, the spurs of which were a slightly tarnished yellow-gold color. The one thing missing from her outfit was her gold-studded black cowboy hat, which had been confiscated by the Sheriff when he locked the two of them up in the cell they currently shared.

Timmy winced at the girl's raised, hostile tone of voice, feeling like he was reliving his early relationship with _his_ Vicki all over again, though this one was considerably more foul-mouthed. "Well then thank _goodness_ we're both getting executed tomorrow!" The teen shot back angrily, standing up and getting right in the red-haired girl's face, something that was considerably easier since she was still only sixteen. "That is unless you _nag_ me to death first!"

"Give me a few minutes, bet I can come up with something more _creative_ , if you'd prefer!" Vicky yelled right back, baring her teeth as she grabbed the brunet by the collar of his shirt and balled her free hand up into a fist, then raised it in front of his face threateningly.

"And _then_ what's your plan? You kill me now, and you lose the _only_ chance you've got of getting out of here!" Timmy yelled in a half-pleading tone, again remembering that this wasn't 'his' Vicki, this girl was _actually_ a criminal. The type who was more likely to lie and steal than assault or outright murder someone, but she _was_ trapped in a cage with him, and their last meeting hadn't exactly ended with them being on friendly terms, what with him essentially chasing her out of town in humiliating(if somewhat comical) fashion.

"Quiet back there! Both of you! Any more of that yelling and I'll shoot you both myself!" The loud, gruff voice of the Sheriff called from somewhere near the front of the building, causing both teens to flinch in surprise and clamp their mouths shut.

"This _isn't_ over, you little… Rrgh! I can't even think of a proper insult, I'm so angry!" The redhead whispered out harshly as she released her cellmate, then shoved him back a few feet and dropped down onto the cell's bench with a huff. "Why'd you have to come back anyway?! Three months you were gone, just disappeared out of nowhere, and I was able to come back to this dumb little town and do whatever I wanted! Started with picking pockets, then robbing the odd stagecoach, peoples' houses, and even the bank once or twice!"

Timmy simply rolled his eyes, realizing that in the time he'd been gone(and back in his own time) Vicky the Kid had only become that much more of a criminal. At least the last time he was here, she was simply acting like the Vicki in his time, babysitting kids and asking for an exorbitant amount of money, then extorting the parents when they couldn't pay. _Now_ she was unambiguously a bandit by Old West terms, and was apparently doing pretty well for herself… Up until he showed up, anyway. "Oh, so this is _my_ fault?! You were the one who told the Sheriff that the two of us were 'in cahoots'!" The brunet exclaimed in a similarly harsh whisper, taking a moment as he finished speaking to straighten out his shirt, now wrinkled from the girl's tight, threatening grip. Much like before, Wanda had poofed him up a more 'period-appropriate' outfit upon returning to this time, though to avoid attention, he'd opted against donning his 'Masked Stranger' persona, settling instead on no hat at all, as he hadn't planned on staying long anyway. He'd also made it a point to come back a few months _after_ his first run-in with this time period's Vicky, hoping that all the fuss and craziness from his driving her out of town would've blown over.

As it turned out, it had, but it also meant that no one recognized him as the person who saved the town, except of course Vicky herself, who managed to crash into him right as he poofed into existence in front of the bank, which she just _happened_ to be robbing at the time. Her shock upon seeing him had been exactly the distraction the Sheriff needed to catch her, but this _was_ Vicky, and she had no intention of going down alone. Before Timmy could utter a word, she began laying into him about how the two of them were going to run off together after 'this last big heist' and how it was 'all his fault' she got caught. Needless to say, the Sheriff was quick to assume Vicky was telling the truth, and thus arrested Timmy as well. Justice in the Old West at its finest.

"Well what _else_ was I gonna do?!" Vicky hissed out, her pink eyes still narrowed angrily at the brunet.

"How about accept your punishment for being a bandit and leave me _out of it_?!" Timmy shot back in an irritated, matter-of-fact tone, then tipped backward and leaned against the bars of the cell, crossing his arms and bowing his head a little.

"Right, but then _I'd_ still be caught and _you'd_ be free!" The sixteen year old gritted her teeth, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up from how annoyed she was getting.

"But if _I_ wasn't in _here_ , I could've gotten you out! Now they're gonna hang us _both_ -"

"Oh like Hell you would've!" The redhead raised her voice, slipping out of her quiet whisper and into a more audible volume. "You're the _reason_ I had to start robbing people in the first place! If not for you, I'd still have this stupid little town under my thumb with the money everyone owes me for babysitting their little brats! Everything was _fine_ before you came along last time, and now the second you show up again, my life goes straight to Hell!"

"Dammit, boy! You tell your woman to shut her trap before I tie you _both_ to horses and have them drag you off into the desert, y'hear?!" Again, the Sheriff yelled from somewhere near the front of the building, prompting both teens to look in the direction his voice had come from, before making eye contact with each other, then quickly breaking it, Timmy turning his attention to the wall at his right, while Vicky simply pouted and glared down at her boots.

"Tch, least I'd have a _chance_ , 'stead of swinging from the gallows and kicking out my last few breaths..." The older of the two teens muttered to herself, before tilting her head back and butting it against the wall behind her. "...So-" Vicky began, her voice cracking as she choked back a sob. "-What brings you back to Dimmsdale Flats, anyway?"

Timmy; however, ignored the ex-babysitter's question, opting to instead focus on the wavering quality of her voice. "Er… You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm just pleased as punch. I'm stuck in this cell with _you_ , this bench is making my ass as stiff as the wood it's made of, and I'm gonna die at the ripe old age of sixteen from a snapped neck, _if_ I'm lucky. Forgive me, 'Masked Stranger', if I'm perhaps feeling a bit melancholy about the current state of my affairs." Vicky remarked bitterly, casting a quick glance at the teen that revealed the whites of her eyes to be just slightly red.

"Ah… R-Right, stupid question… Sorry." The brunet responded quietly, realizing that he might have perhaps gone a bit too far when he'd yelled at the girl. Granted, she _did_ deserve it for being a criminal and roping him into being executed as well, but in all likelihood she was already well aware of that, and certainly didn't need him yelling at her, likely stressing her out even more. "You-Uh… You sound pretty smart, considering you're-"

"A _woman_ , right? Girl with a few brain cells between her ears an odd sight, 'Stranger'?" The redhead queried in an overly defensive manner, her tone practically dripping with venom.

"N-No! I wasn't-! I meant for someone like you-a bandit in the Old West! It's got nothing to do with you being a girl! Honest!" Timmy stammered out nervously, not wanting to risk setting his cellmate off again. "I figure… _Most_ people in this town aren't all that educated, just… Kinda surprised _you_ are, since most movies and stuff about the Old West have thieves and bandits in them that seem like they probably can't even count." He finished with a shrug, the pink-eyed girl continuing to stare him down for several seconds, before at last turning away with a scoff.

"Tch, I could say the same about you, Whatever-Your-Name-Is. You talk like you're from the city, or at least one of the bigger towns out here… Where _are_ you from anyway? Blackwater? San Francisco?" Vicky took a moment to wipe at her eyes, then sniffled quietly, before turning her head to look at the fifteen year old directly. "No… You're a bit _too_ well-spoken for someone out here, and you mentioned… What? Moo-Vees? That something from back out East?"

"Er… Y-Yeah, you could… Say that..." Timmy glanced away evasively, rubbing the back of his head in discomfort. _"Great, supposed to be getting a souvenir, and instead I'm screwing around with history by talking about modern-day stuff… Hopefully Wanda can get us out of here soon, so I can get back to my own time..."_ The teen mused to himself in thought, feeling the curious eyes of his cellmate still boring unto him.

"So what are they?"

"Eh, what?" Timmy looked up suddenly, the girl's pink, curious eyes now locked on and meeting his surprised blue ones. "You… You mean, m-movies?"

"Yeah, you said they 'have thieves and bandits in them', and that they seem like they can't even count. Doesn't sound like you're talking about a book, so what _are_ they? What are Moo-Vees?" The redhead asked, her earlier melancholic tone having faded somewhat.

"Uh..." Timmy trailed off, mouth gaping slightly as he tried to think up a good explanation for the girl. In truth, she was a bit endearing when she was curious, her eyes becoming a bit wider as she stared up at him from the bench, her whole body now oriented toward him with her hands patiently resting in her lap. She was very nearly the spitting image of his Vicki, who he could only assume was distantly related to the girl sitting in front of him, and despite what _had_ to have been a fairly rough life growing up on the 'frontier', she was actually quite pretty; with lightly tanned skin, a dusting of freckles across her cheeks and nose, and her hair, while a bit dusty from when she'd crashed into him, was still the familiar vibrant red, just like Vicki's. The only real difference aside from the very mild tan was that 'Vicky the Kid' had a thin scar going across her nose, which was barely visible in the relative darkness of their cell anyway. "S-Since we're gonna be here a while… I guess I might as well tell you, just to pass the time..." He pushed himself up off the iron bars, taking a few tentative steps over toward the older girl. "Mind if I… Sit down?" He pointed to the bench, more than long enough to accommodate both of them and still have plenty of room to spare.

"...Alright, but if you try _anything_ ; put your hands on me, grab something you like because I'm a girl-" Vicky threatened, her tone cautious as she shot the brunet an uncertain look.

"Wh-Why would I try anything like that?!" Timmy nearly yelled, his cheeks blushing a bright pink color. "Y-You've already proven that you could probably knock my teeth in if you wanted to, and it's not like I can get away..." He gestured at the black, iron bars of their cell for emphasis.

"W-Well I… I just wanted to make sure we were clear… Y'know, in case you… Got any ideas..." The redhead muttered out sheepishly, the slightest tinge of disappointment in her voice.

"...'Kay..." The fifteen year old responded hesitantly, his cheeks still flushed in embarrassment. "So anyway… Where was I…?" He wondered aloud as he sat down on the bench, putting a good three feet of space between himself and Vicky. "Ah… Movies, movies… Okay, so movies are-" The teen cut himself off as he felt thin, slender fingers wrap around his left bicep, followed by the feeling of himself gently sliding to his left, until he came to a stop, the distance between the two teens now shrunk to little more than six or so inches. "Wh-What is it?" He stuttered out, turning to face the red-haired girl, and quickly realizing he suddenly felt uncomfortably warm with her face so close to his.

Vicky responded with a quick nod toward the front of the building. "That old pisspot's already in a bad mood, probably be best if we try to keep quiet. If you really _can_ get us outta here, it's in my best interest to keep you breathin', 'least for now."

"Oh so what? I get the two of us out of here and you stab me in the back for my trouble?" Timmy spoke in a half-joking, half-serious tone, the corners of his mouth tugging upward to form a slight grin.

"Shoot you in the head, actually." The sixteen year old responded in an even, completely deadpan tone, going so far as to give the boy a light tap right in the middle of his forehead. "Shame, really. Kid like you's probably _born_ to break a lot of hearts..." A quiet, wistful chuckle escaped the redhead as she finished, though her statement was visibly lost on the brunet, if his look of bemusement was any indication.

"Ah… What? My aunt used to say I'd grow into a real 'heartbreaker' when I got older, but… I don't-"

"Means you're cute, ya damned fool." Vicky interrupted, her tone bearing more than a hint of annoyance as her cheeks gained a light dusting of pink.

"O-Oh, um… Thank… You?" The teen stammered out nervously, his blush darkening to a rosy tint barely visible in the darkness of the cell. _"_ Why _do all the girls who like me have to be crazy in_ some _way?"_

"I wouldn't thank me just yet, still haven't made up my mind about putting a bullet between those pretty little eyes, remember?" The older teen quirked an eyebrow up at Timmy, her own lips tugging up into a small smirk.

"W-Well, er… Any way I can convince you to _not_ shoot me?" Timmy offered nervously, his voice bearing a slight wavering quality.

"Let's start with telling me what 'Moo-Vees' are; I'll think about what I'm gonna do with you in the meantime."

"I guess that's fair… So, a movie is like… You know what pictures are, obviously, right?"

"Pictures you say?" The girl began in an overly flighty voice, sounding a bit like a typical southern belle. "I'm afraid I don't know _nothin'_ about those, being the poor, uneducated farm girl from Texas that I am..."

"...Y'know, this'll be a _lot_ easier if you drop the sarcastic attitude, Vicky." Timmy deadpanned, shooting the redhead a flat, unimpressed look.

"And it'll go a lot _quicker_ if you stop assuming I'm some dumb farm girl who just _stumbled_ into having the most successful babysitting service within two-hundred miles! Yeah, I know what a picture is, Shitbir-..." Vicky caught herself, closing her mouth after a moment before glancing away, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What's your _real_ name, anyway? Figure I ought to know the name of the kid who's gone through so much trouble to derail my life on _two_ separate occasions."

"I was just trying to get the deed to the town the first time, it wasn't anything personal, even if you _were_ extorting everyone who lives here!" The brunet whispered out harshly, growing tired of the girl's insistence that everything bad that happened to her was his fault, rather than her own for being an all around unpleasant person. "And _this_ time, I just happened to be passing _through_ , that's it! You crashed into me, remember?"

"Doesn't change the fact that you _did_ get in my way on _both_ occasions. Premeditated or not, you _have_ been a massive thorn in my side… And I'd like a name to go with your face, leaving me with the impression that you have." Vicky remarked calmly, her arms crossed over her chest as she continued to stare her cellmate down.

"...Timmy. Timmy Turner." He responded hesitantly, wondering if it was really a good idea to tell the redhead his name, and thus leave yet _another_ piece of evidence of his many adventures through time.

"Timmy Turner." Vicky parroted back, her eyes giving his face a studious once-over. "I'll have to commit it to memory, should you keep your word about getting the both of us out of here."

"What about you?" Timmy began, giving the girl a quick nod. "Vicky the Kid just what people call you, or was it your idea?

"Little of both, actually. My name _is_ Vicky, but everyone out here thinks _every_ _single_ bandit needs some catchy nickname; Dead-Eye Rick, Fast-Hands Morgan, Dirty Dan… Figure people must've started calling me 'Vicky the Kid' on account of how young I was when I first gained a real reputation-thirteen, by the way-and I guess I just decided to roll with it, made my reputation grow, gave me a title that sent kids running for cover, and some adults too." The redhead explained somewhat proudly, with a grin to match. "'Course, with me becoming a full-time 'bandit', as you say, the nickname's caused me a bit more trouble than I'd like, but you never get tired of hearing people speak your name in hushed whispers; the fear and awe in their voices, the respect you command… Suits me just fine."

"So then… What's your name? Vicky must be short for Victoria, right?" The brunet watched as his companion's smile faded a bit, her expression becoming slightly more serious. "I figure… I told you my name, so… That's gotta be enough for you to tell me yours, right?"

"Yeah, Vicky's short for Victoria, but… Sorry, with us being on opposite sides of the law, I'm afraid that's all you're gonna get. I've..." Vicky looked over her shoulder toward the hallway that led to the front of the Sheriff's office and stared for several seconds, then turned her attention once more to Timmy and continued speaking, her voice barely above a whisper. "I've got family back home who… Probably aren't too happy about the direction I've chosen in life, let's say. That being said, I'd rather not have my actions cause them undue trouble..." A wistful sigh escaped the girl as she finished. "And you needn't worry about telling me your full name, Timmy. I still value family, even if me and mine aren't on the best of terms." She glanced up at the small window high on the wall behind Timmy, the sky beyond the black iron bars blue and cloudless. "...Somethin' I've been meaning to ask you."

"Okay…?" The teen looked up, meeting the pink-eyed girl's gaze as it dropped from the window to stare into his blue orbs.

"How old are you, anyway? Last time I saw you, you looked to be about ten, maybe eleven. Now though, you look at _least_ a few years older, even if the distinct lack of facial hair makes it hard to tell." She chuckled and gave Timmy a playful wink, letting him know she was teasing him.

"I-Uh… I'm fifteen." Timmy admitted, glancing away evasively as his cheeks began to burn with heat once more. "I… That is… I must've… Hit a growth spurt in these past couple months…" He wasn't _technically_ lying. He _was_ fifteen, but it had also been five years since the last time he'd seen Vicky the Kid, though it had obviously only been a few months from her perspective.

"Hmph. Must've been one _Hell_ of a growth spurt." The redhead shrugged her cellmate's answer off, assuming that, since she hadn't paid the teen's height any particular attention at the time, it was entirely possible she was simply remembering his height wrong. All she'd _really_ noticed was that he was shorter than her, and he very much still was, though only by about half a foot, maybe an inch or two more. "And what exactly was it that brought you back here, anyway? Can't imagine this place has more to offer than _any_ of the big cities around here, and _especially_ not the ones back East, so…?"

"Hm? Oh, I actually came back here to try and get a souvenir or something, as a gift for Trix-… Ah… S-Someone I know, b-back home..." The teen stuttered nervously, realizing how close he'd come to not only mentioning his girlfriend, but also the fact that he wasn't from this time. "Not really sure how much she'd like something from the Old West, but-"

"There you go again with that 'Old West' crap." Vicky interrupted, cutting Timmy's explanation short. "What do you mean by 'Old' West? It's just 'The West' out here; I'm willing to bet wherever _you're_ from is older than anything around here, Timmy." The redhead narrowed her eyes, her curiosity piqued. Whoever this Timmy Turner was, he was clearly hiding something from her, and it seemed as though his story grew more complicated with each question she asked. "Not to mention, just _who_ in the World could _possibly_ be worth crossing a continent for?"

"N-Not anyone _you'd_ know… Just… A girl..." The fifteen year old blushed, Vicky's question making him realize just how ridiculous it probably sounded. If only she knew it was time _itself_ he'd crossed for the dark-haired girl, rather than something so simple as a country. "We… She and I are… Kind of..." Timmy trailed off, his cheeks again turning a rosy shade of pink.

"What? You courting her or something? Maybe smitten with her? She making you run halfway across the World to earn her favor?" The pink-eyed girl questioned incredulously, curiously tilting her head a little.

"Wha- N-No! She's… She's my girl-! She's just a really good friend, okay? I came out here because I wanted to get her a souvenir, not to earn her favor or anything like that!" The brunet shot back defensively, earning him an intrigued look from the redhead in response.

"Pfft, you sound smitten to me." Vicky blinked her eyes closed and slowly shook her head back and forth. "And what _exactly_ has you so convinced this girl is worth the trouble? She an heiress? Childhood friend you've fallen for?" A sly grin slowly spread across the older teen's face, her eyes narrowing at the boy next to her. "Or… Are you trying to sate a more… _Base_ desire?" Her pink eyes glanced down at Timmy's lap knowingly; more specifically, at his crotch, before reestablishing eye contact nearly as quickly as she'd broken it. "'Cause lemme tell you… There are _far_ easier methods to try, if all you're seekin' is a roll in the hay..."

"Uh-Hehehe… Wh-What do you mean by… A r-roll in the h-hay?" Timmy gulped audibly, the sultry tone with which Vicky was now speaking made him feel warm in his own skin. Uncomfortably so.

"Come now… You're fifteen, I'm sixteen… Basically adults. I think we both know what I'm talking about…?" The redhead slipped a little closer, her right hand sliding across the bench, before colliding with the side of Timmy's left thigh. From there, her hand slid up onto his leg, then further, progressing across the top of it and onto the inner part of his thigh.

In truth, the position she was in now was the absolute _furthest_ she'd ever gone; just close enough to get someone to let their guard down, then her hand would dart out, grab the grip of their revolver, and in an instant, she'd have them at gunpoint. Needless to say, being a pretty young girl gave her a significant advantage in the largely male-dominated West, and it was precisely _why_ she was so good at evading capture, with the combination of her feminine charms and lustful voice turning nearly any man(and at least one woman) into putty in her hands. It was a bit underhanded, but losing her job as the local babysitter(along with the deed to the town) forced her to adapt, and adapt she did.

"Y-You're talking about… _That_? I-I don't- I've _never_ even… Isn't this… Not the best place for… _That_?" Timmy stammered and stumbled over his own words, the redhead's sudden change in mood catching him _completely_ off-guard... Her hand slowly sliding up his inner thigh and towards his crotch certainly didn't help matters, either.

"My thoughts _exactly_!" Vicky grinned evilly, leaning in close so her face was mere centimeters from Timmy's, though her positioning forced her to look up to meet the fifteen year old's bright blue eyes, now filled with a mix of confusion and, she assumed, unease. "So why don't we strike ourselves a little deal, huh?"

"Ah… Wh-What did y-you have in m-mind?" Timmy squeaked out, his voice cracking as he tried(and failed) to maintain his composure.

"Well, I know you already said you'd get us both out of here, but how do I know I can trust you? For all I know, you could turn on me as soon as we get to the front of the building. Sheriff's more like to believe a city-boy like yourself if you plead your case, and _I'm_ Vicky the Kid. You, on the other hand, are just an assumed accessory, and only by my word, the word of a 'bandit' as you insist on calling me." The girl's smile grew wider, her eyes narrowing at the teen now subtly fidgeting under her touch.

"Y-You're one to talk..." Timmy mumbled out, frowning as he broke eye contact and looked away evasively. "Not five minutes ago, you told me you were still thinking about shooting me in the head. Who's to say your word's any more trustworthy than mine?"

"Which is why I'm proposing an accord, Turner." The redhead spoke softly, her voice just slightly above a whisper in volume. "You promise to get me outta this cell, help me get back my equipment, _and_ ride about a mile out of town with me to be on the safe side… You do all that, and on my word; little as an outlaw's word is worth, I will forgive your past slights against me." Vicky smiled in a self-satisfied manner, her eyes still boring into Timmy's as he glanced up at the ceiling, seemingly considering her offer. "If that's not enough…" The sultry tone in her voice returned, her hand slowly edging up along the inside of Timmy's thigh until coming to a stop little more than a hair's breadth from his crotch. "…I _suppose_ it wouldn't be _too_ hard to convince me to give _you_ a roll in the-"

"Eep!" A high-pitched squeak echoed through the quiet cell, causing the redhead to jump in surprise and look around the small space she shared with Timmy, though the fifteen year old in question was quick to sigh with audible relief as he rose to his feet and made a beeline for the bars of the cell directly across from them.

"Hey! I wasn't finished talking, y'know!" The older teen remarked angrily, her brow furrowed in annoyance as the brunet seemingly ignored her.

"Wanda! Thank goodness you're here!" Timmy exclaimed softly, sticking his hand between the bars and giving the small pink rat on the opposite side a few affectionate pats on the head.

" _Who_ are you talking… To…?" Vicky asked as she joined the fifteen year old in front of the bars of their shared cell, trailing off quietly as her eyes settled on a pink, fuzzy rat with a small, gold crown perched atop its head, the rodent's tail wrapped around and holding some sort of thin black rod with a gold star on its tip. " _Why_ are you talking to a _rat_?" She crouched down next to Timmy, frowning in confusion at the small, oddly colored animal's presence.

"Not just _any_ rat, this is Wanda, and she's our ticket outta here!" The brunet smirked at Vicky excitedly, allowing the pink rat to climb into his hand before he stood back up.

"That a fact?" The redhead stood up in turn, shooting Timmy a skeptical look, before turning her attention to the pink rodent in his hand.

"It _is_ , and I'll show you!" Timmy stepped around the girl and over to the cell door, then held out his free hand in front of his small passenger. "Got the key, right?"

Vicky's ears perked up at this, and she joined Timmy by the door, quirking one eyebrow up in curiosity at his question. "The rat? Or me? ...And _what_ key?"

"Eek!" Another loud squeak escaped Wanda as she reached into her fur and, after a moment, pulled out a plain, black metal key, similar in appearance to the bars making up Timmy and Vicky's cell.

"Perfect! Knew I could count on you!" Timmy whispered out happily, giving his fairy godmother-turned-rat a few little scratches under her chin.

"Wha?! S-She got the key off the Sheriff?!" Vicky exclaimed in disbelief as she leaned in close next to the brunet, though not so loud as to draw attention. "…I want one of those..." She muttered quietly, pouting at the younger teen and his seemingly _quite_ intelligent rat.

"Can't help you there." The brunet responded, allowing Wanda to scurry up his arm and settle on his shoulder before he stuck his right hand through the bars, oriented the key towards the lock, and shoved it in. "Come on..." After a few moments of awkwardly fiddling with the lock, there was an audible 'ker-chunk', followed by the cell door slowly tilting away from the two teens. "Got it!" Timmy remarked happily, giving the unlocked door a gentle push that made it creak open. "After you?" He offered, turning in place to face the redhead.

"What about our deal?" Vicky whispered out harshly, once again narrowing her eyes at the teen in a suspicious manner. "You never agreed to my terms, Turner… Not that I think about it, you never got around to telling me what Moo-Vees are, either."

"Wha… _Really_? Is this _really_ a good time for this, in your opinion? We need to get _out of here_ , not worry about some deal, or… Or movies!" The teen rebuked incredulously, astonished that an outlaw like Vicky would delay their escape over something so trivial, _especially_ since their _lives_ were on the line!

"I _want_ my deal. You try and leave here without agreeing to my terms, and I'll scream for the Sheriff." The pink-eyed girl stated rather simply, crossing her arms and shooting the fifteen year old a self-satisfied smirk.

"You can _not_ be serious." Timmy deadpanned with a flat look, his cellmate's expression being all he needed to recognize that yes, she very much was. "I'm starting to think this is less about us getting out of here, and more about you making a pass at me!"

"Hmph." The redhead turned away, putting her back to Timmy as her cheeks adopted the faintest dusting of pink. As if to provide further evidence that the boy wasn't _entirely_ wrong, she cocked her right hip up a little, advertising a certain _shapely_ part of her anatomy. "You're free to think what you like, Turner." She glanced over her shoulder, betraying the small, playful smile on her lips. "Thing is, I reckon you haven't got a lot of options, now do ya?"

The brunet took a moment to think, and turned his head to look at Wanda, who merely shrugged in response. A few short statements were fine, as while Timmy could understand Wanda, to anyone else, she merely sounded as though she was squeaking. Talking at _length_ in front of Vicky; however, was completely out of the question. "Rrgh… F-Fine! Whatever you want! Now can we _please_ just go while the going's good?" Timmy questioned in clear exasperation, his cheeks reddening as he wondered how long it wold be before Vicky decided to have him make good on this 'deal'.

"Of course!" The sixteen year old spun around; quick as a flash, with her right hand extended, and snatched up Timmy's in a firm grip, then shook it a few times, before finally releasing it. "First things first: my equipment." Vicky took the lead, exiting the cell and crossing the narrow hallway until she reached the wall, which she was quick to hug as she adopted a slouched, sneaking posture. "If we're lucky, Pisspot might be asleep, seein' as how he's pushing a hundred and twenty..."

"A hundred and twenty?" Timmy parroted back in disbelief as he crept out of the cell and joined the redhead against the wall, mimicking her slouched posture as he placed his right hand on the wall to steady himself. "Really?"

"Might as well be, with how many naps the old codger needs in one day… Anyway, keep close and stay low, we keep quiet, and we shouldn't have any problems getting the jump on him..." Vicky began to creep down the hall toward the front of the building, only to feel her companion's fingers hook into her left back pocket, bringing her to an unexpected halt.

"Hey, wait!" Timmy whispered out harshly, quickly withdrawing his fingers as the girl looked over her shoulder at him, his cheeks bearing a faint blush.

"What? Can't wait to play grab-ass until _after_ we get out of here?"

The fifteen year old rolled his eyes, still unused to how straightforward _this_ Vicky was, compared to his Vicki, who was at least a bit more nuanced. Not to mention, _his_ Vicki had never done something so bold as suggest that she was open to having _sex_ with him… It was a bit odd to hear the sixteen year old suggest it, and the offer had _certainly_ caught him off guard, but then, _he_ was probably the closest thing Vicky the Kid had ever met to a worthy opponent, so it was possible that _that_ was why she'd made such an offer, though there was no way he could know for sure. "I just… Wanna make sure we're clear on… How we're gonna handle this."

"What, like a _plan_? We don't _need_ a plan for something as simple as this!" The redhead spun around and crouched low, bidding that Timmy do the same. "We're gonna go over, get my gun and ammo, paint the front office with Pisspot's brains, then hightail it outta town on the first two horses we find."

"Agh… Do we _really_ need to kill the Sheriff?" Timmy groaned, feeling a bit nauseous upon hearing the girl's… _Colorful_ description of what her intentions were for the old man.

" _No_ , but getting caught by that old bag of bones has put me in a bad mood, and I'm in need of an outlet." Vicky gritted her teeth in anger, then looked over her shoulder as she heard a loud, snorting snore from somewhere closer to the front of the Sheriff's office. "Now, if you'll pardon me for just a moment..."

"But-! Y-You-Uh… I don't think that's a good idea!" The brunet reached out, his hand settling on the older teen's shoulder, which prompted her to lock eyes with him again, the frown on her lips advertising her growing annoyance.

"Sure _feels_ like a good idea to me..." The pink-eyed girl remarked bitterly, feeling a little ashamed as the memories of how easily she'd been caught briefly flashed through her mind.

"I-I know, but… But just hear me out, um..." Timmy took a moment to think, his heart beginning to beat a bit more rapidly as Vicky patiently awaited his reasoning, her eyes never leaving his face. "Uh… O-Okay, so this is the first time he's caught you, right?"

"Yeah… Only caught me because I crashed into you when you popped up outta nowhere..."

"Alright, so that means he's not very good at his job, right?"

"...Suppose that's a fair observation." Vicky admitted hesitantly, wondering where the boy was going with this line of questioning. "Like I said, I pretty much had the run of the town until you showed up."

"So then, wouldn't it be better to _not_ kill him? If you do, then one of the bigger towns around here is just gonna send a new Sheriff when they get word that the _current_ Sheriff of Dimmsdale Flats is dead. Who's to say the next one'll be as incompetent as this one is?"

"Mngh..." The redhead let out a low, humming growl, realizing Timmy had a point, and a good one at that. "The devil you know is better than the one you don't..." She made eye contact with the teen again, and noticed that the corners of his mouth were tugging upward into a relieved little smile. "You're a pain in the ass, y'know that?" Vicky turned around as she finished, then began sneaking down the hall once more, with Timmy following close behind.

Upon reaching the end of the hall, Vicky came to another sudden stop and brought her left hand up, her palm facing him. "Wait."

The fifteen year old did as he was told, watching as the older teen slunk forward and peeked around the corner. "You see him?" He asked, in turn peeking around Vicky to get a look at the room ahead of them. There were a few chairs made of the same wood as the bench in their cell, and a table of similar make with a few newspapers stacked on top of it. On the wall by the door was a row of hooks that served as a hat and coat rack, though all that hung there now was a plain white cowboy hat; the hat the Sheriff had been wearing when he captured them.

"Yeah… Old goat is wearing _my_ hat…!" The redhead spoke through gritted teeth, then grasped the corner of the wall and pulled herself to her feet. "Gimme a minute, I'll handle Pisspot."

"Vicky, wait-!" The brunet reached for his fiery-haired companion, only for his fingers to miss her by less than an inch as she stepped around the corner, causing him to fall forward from his own momentum and flop onto the floor. "Oof! Vic-"

 _Smash!_

A cacophony of thumps and splintering wood followed the loud smash, the sounds entering Timmy's ears as he momentarily laid prone on the floor, the racket itself soon followed by what sounded like the groan of an older gentlemen, then silence, save for the slow, steady breathing of an unconscious human being. "Alright, Turner. Come out and help me search this place." The redhead's voice came from around the corner, prompting Timmy to push himself up off the floor and rush around it to see the carnage the sixteen year old had caused.

"What did you _do_?! I thought I said-…?" Timmy trailed off, falling silent as he stared at the older girl's handiwork.

Against the far wall, between his desk and the wall that sat behind it, was the Sheriff, his unconscious form upside-down in a heap, with his legs and rear-end up over his head, itself positioned at what _had_ to be an uncomfortable angle due to most of his body weight pressing down on his upper spine and neck. All around him in the small alcove created by his desk and the two walls were broken, splintered pieces of the chair Timmy assumed the older man had been sitting in prior to Vicky's little 'intervention' in his nap.

"I-I thought you _weren't_ gonna hurt him!" The brunet whispered out harshly, glaring at the older girl, who currently leaned against the desk with a satisfied expression, her arms crossed as she looked at the Sheriff's prone form.

"If memory serves, you advised that I not _kill_ him, and I didn't. You said nothing of grievously harming him, which I most _definitely_ did." An evil smile worked its way across Vicky's face as she looked at Timmy, who merely stared at her, mouth agape in surprise at how she'd twisted his words. Not unlike how a _certain_ descendant of hers tended to. "Oh don't look at me like _that_..." She pushed herself up off the desk and strode over to Timmy, then bent over a little and reached out to affectionately(and just slightly condescendingly) ruffle his hair. "He'll be fine… After… Maybe, two months of recovery."

"That doesn't make it-" He cut himself off, feeling the corners of his mouth twitch as he looked past the girl at the Sheriff. Something about only _hearing_ the scuffle from around the corner, and then finding the resulting aftermath of said scuffle was kind of humorous, in a dark sort of way. The comical position of the now unconscious Sheriff, along with his badge _actually_ indicating his name as 'Pisspot' certainly didn't help matters. "Just- Just get your stuff..." Timmy pinched the bridge of his nose and bowed his head, trying to hide the grin creeping across his face.

"Phew! That's a relief..." The redhead spun around on her heel and walked back over to the Sheriff, then crouched down in front of him. "Y'know, for a second there, I thought you were gonna give me a lecture..." She quickly went through the man's pockets, producing a book of matches, several bullets, and a decently-sized wad of cash folded over with a silver clip, all of which she was quick to pocket. "Tch, figured as much..."

"What? Something wrong?" Timmy took a few steps closer, then leaned forward to get a peek over Vicky's shoulder.

"Yeah." The sixteen year old responded off-handedly as she unbuckled the worn, brown leather belt from around the Sheriff's waist, stood up, and fastened it around her own, weaving it under the black one she already wore. Unlike her own, the Sheriff's belt was considerably more worn and damaged; it didn't even have the little loops for bullets that Vicky's did. "Old Pisspot doesn't know the first thing about taking care of his gun." She withdrew the aforementioned gun, an old, tarnished, silver-colored revolver; for emphasis, the grip of which looked to be cut from the same wood that the chairs in the office were composed of.

Timmy; however, was less interested in the _state_ of the gun, and more concerned with the fact that the redhead had taken it in the first place. "Ah… Wh-What do you… I mean, why're you taking _that_ , exactly?" He gulped nervously, the mere _sight_ of the gun and the nonchalance with which Vicky handled it immediately putting him on edge.

"Well _he_ was pretty keen to appropriate _my_ things, I figure it's only right to return the kindness." The pink-eyed girl shrugged, crouching down once more to retrieve her black, gold-studded hat, before placing it back on her head.

"N- _No_ , I mean… Why do you need a _gun_?" The fifteen year old questioned in a cautious tone, earning him a bemused frown from the older teen.

"The Hell kinda question is that? I'm a sixteen year old _woman_ who lives out on the frontier of the United States with a _bounty_ on her head, and I _rob_ people for a living, what do you _think_ I need a gun for?" Vicky replied matter-of-factly, slipping the battered pistol back into its holster on her hip.

"Oh… Right, I guess that makes sense..." Timmy conceded, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment at not realizing something so obvious. _"She didn't have a gun_ lasttime _I saw her… But she was just babysitting back then._ _With her stealing from people, and even the_ bank _now..."_ He shuddered slightly, realizing her threat to put a bullet between his eyes hadn't been an idle one. She'd more than likely killed before, judging by how comfortable she seemed with a gun in her hand, and he didn't doubt she'd do it again, if necessary.

"Speaking of, the old goat confiscated _my_ gun when he took us in, my bullets too. Check the drawers on this side of the desk for them, I'll check the ones over by Pisspot." The redhead stepped back over to the floored Sheriff, lightly nudging him away from the desk so she could access the drawers.

"So… How-Uh… How are you with a gun?" Timmy asked, mentally cursing the stutter brought on by his nervousness.

"Good as I need to be." The sixteen year old remarked somewhat dismissively as she shuffled the contents of the top drawer around, picking out a few pieces of random jewelry she assumed the Sheriff had confiscated from other 'bandits' like herself. "Why do you ask, anyway? Worried I'll put one between your eyes after all?"

"...Well now that you said that, yeah, kinda..." The teen muttered out, starting at the bottom drawer on his side, and working his way up to the middle one when he found it to be empty. "How will I know which one's yours if I find it, anyway?"

"Trust me-" Vicky began, casting a sidelong glance at her buck-toothed companion. "You'll know."

Timmy closed the middle drawer, this one being filled with nothing but old papers that looked to be some sort of reports, and pulled open the final, top drawer. "If you say so-… Oh." He paused, looking down at the dark, almost cherry-red grip of a revolver, the rest of the gun coming into view as he slid the drawer the rest of the way out. "Wow."

"You find it?" The girl asked, turning her attention back over toward Timmy as she pushed closed the drawer she'd been searching.

Timmy lifted the gun out of the drawer, his right hand delicately holding the grip, while his left cradled the octagonal barrel, and part of the cylinder. Unlike the gun Vicky had taken off the Sheriff, this one _clearly_ had a loving owner, from the dark red, polished wood that made up the grip, to the deep gray, almost black metal comprising the rest of the gun, and finally, to the off-gold, filigree-like designs all along the cylinder and barrel, with the sights being a similar color, everything about the oddly weighty firearm in the teen's hands told him this was not _just_ a gun, it was practically a work of art! "I-Uh… I'm gonna guess this belongs to you?" He asked quietly, handing the weapon to the girl as if he were presenting it to royalty.

"Ah! There you are!" Vicky gingerly took her gun out of the brunet's hands and looked it over, taking a few seconds to pop the cylinder out and make sure it was still loaded. "I know it wasn't a whole lot of trouble to get it, but thank you, Turner. I'm grateful for your help, all the same." She remarked in a warm, friendly tone, slipping the revolver back into the holster on her own belt.

"Oh, er… You're welcome?" The teen mumbled out in surprise, honestly caught off-guard by how genuine the normally foul-mouthed girl sounded. "There… A story behind that gun, or…?"

"Brgh-Argh… Th-Thursday..." An old, disoriented mumble came from behind Vicky, prompting both teens to direct their attention at the still unconscious form of the Sheriff, who was now muttering incoherently in his sleep.

"Think we can swap stories about your Moo-Vees and how I got my gun later. For now, how 'bout we make ourselves scarce?" Vicky vaulted over the desk as she finished and jogged over to the front door of the building so she could peek out the window at Dimmsdale Flats' main(and only) street. "C'mere." She waved the fifteen year old over without taking her eyes away from the window.

"Yeah? What is it?" Timmy asked, sidling up next to the girl on her left so he could look out at as well.

"I think that's the Sheriff's horse hitched there." The redhead nodded at a dark brown horse with a black mane and tail, the saddle it wore a similar color to and only in _slightly_ better condition than the belt Vicky took off the Sheriff. "Where'd you leave yours?"

"Oh, uh… C-Cosmoo?" Timmy stuttered out nervously as he glanced at Wanda, still sitting on his shoulder in the form of a rat. As if on cue, a small, green flea wearing a tiny gold crown popped its head out of the fur on Wanda's head, then raised one of its arms to wave at him. "I-Uh… I'll have to tell Wanda to go get him, just give her a sec..." The teen gestured out the window with his eyes at Wanda, in turn causing her to hop down off his shoulder, scurry over to the door and squeeze under it.

"...So what, you learn to talk to animals from that Native girl you were traveling with last time I saw you? Or did somebody knock a few of your screws loose?" The older teen quirked an eyebrow up at her companion, her curiosity betrayed by her tone of voice, despite a mostly neutral expression.

"Something like that. ...The first one, I mean."

"Hehehe… Good save, there." Vicky chuckled, her lips forming a bit of a smirk as she watched the residents of the small town go about their daily lives. "Also, _Cosmoo_? You're not still riding a _cow_ , are ya, Turner?"

"So what if I am?" Timmy shot back with a smirk, recognizing the same teasing tone _his_ Vicki tended to use. "If you wanna go _there_ , where's _your_ horse? Surely an outlaw like yourself has a better horse than an 'old goat' like the Sheriff, right?"

 _That_ earned the fifteen year old a steely-eyed glare from the redhead, her grin fading and leaving her with a more neutral, albeit annoyed, expression. "I don't _have_ one. Didn't have much need for one as a babysitter, and with the town Sheriff being incompetent as he is, I've never had to make a quick getaway out of town. Easiest place to hide is right under his nose."

"Mm." Timmy hummed in agreement. "Suppose that's fair… Oh! There he is!" He nodded out the window, drawing the pink-eyed girl's attention to Cosmo, now in the form of a green and white cow wearing a saddle and cowbell, upon whose head sat Wanda, still disguised as a rat.

"Alright, stay close, and try not to draw too much attention." The sixteen year old slowly turned the knob and pulled the door open as she stood up straight, doing her best to look to look as unassuming as possible.

"Says the girl dressed in the distinctive clothes of a well-known outlaw." Timmy deadpanned, eliciting a low huff of disdain from the girl.

"Says the _Twerp_ who rides a bright _green_ cow!" Vicky hissed out, wincing as the door emitted a loud, groaning squeak. She paused to look around, but soon let out a sigh of relief upon realizing that nobody in the vicinity had paid the noise any mind. "C'mon, I got an idea..." She stepped to the side, giving Timmy a little tap on the shoulder and bidding that he move in front of her.

"Okay…?" The brunet responded bemusedly, taking the lead as he stepped out the door and headed toward Cosmo and the Sheriff's horse.

"You're dressed a little less… Dangerously than me. Unhitch his horse and make like you're the one in charge; like you know what you're doing. Even if the townsfolk recognize me, you taking the lead'll make this look more routine." She looked down to meet Timmy's gaze as he turned to face her, the look in his blue eyes subtly asking her 'How so?' "You got that innocent look about you. Not to mention, you're unarmed. How dangerous can I possibly look, if I'm letting you lead me around?"

"Ah… Gotcha." Timmy nodded, then slowly stepped over to the hitching post and unhitched the Sheriff's horse.

"Gimme a boost." Vicky spoke up, appearing next to the teen as he gave the horse a reassuring pat on its neck.

"Sure." Timmy crouched down without so much as a moment of hesitance, forming a step with both hands that allowed the girl to climb up and swing her leg over the horse. "You know how to ride?"

"Eh, been a couple weeks since the last time, but I'll manage." The ex-babysitter remarked in a dismissive tone, briefly scanning the town to ensure they hadn't drawn any unwanted attention to themselves. "Can't help but notice you're pretty agreeable, even with the fact that I'm… Probably not the easiest person to be around."

"Huh?" Timmy hopped up onto Cosmo's back, and relaxed into the comfortable saddle. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you do what I ask, for one. When you grabbed my gun, you didn't keep it for yourself, or turn it on me when you had the chance. Y'took the lead when I told you to; even gave me a boost when I didn't _really_ need one. They teach city-boys like you manners back East, or does being a gentleman to a lady like myself just come naturally?" Vicky gave the horse's reins a light tug, orienting the animal toward the town entrance.

"Eh… Kind of a funny story, actually..." The fifteen year old, remembering that Vicky had told him to take the lead, nodded his head in the same direction the girl had pointed her horse, bidding for 'Cosmoo' to begin making his way down the street. "There's… Someone I know, back home, who… She's a lot like you, to be honest." He sightly looked over his shoulder as he spoke, keeping his right eye focused ahead of them, while glancing back at the girl out of the corner of his left.

"That right? You're not talking about the same girl you're trying to impress with an 'Old West' souvenir, are you?"

"No, Trix-Er… Trixie doesn't tell me-… Or, well, she _does_ , but… It-It's not the same thing. The girl I'm talking about is my… Uhm… She's like my caretaker-"

"Or your babysitter." The redhead interrupted, causing Timmy's head to whip around to face her. "I'll take that as a yes."

"S-Sort of… B-But anyway, she was the one who was usually around when my parents were out doing… Their own thing." The fifteen year old remarked in a mildly somber tone, turning to face forward as they reached the edge of the town, the surrounding desert wilderness; interspersed here and there with cacti and the odd boulder, stretching out before them.

"Huh, so even on the _East_ coast, people like me are needed."

"She's not _like_ you. For starters, she's a lot nicer." The brunet answered somewhat bitterly, giving Cosmo a light pat so he'd speed up into a comfortable gallop, with Vicky spurring her horse to do the same.

He knew he was partially to blame for 'Vicky the Kid' turning to stealing and robbing banks, but being _his_ Vicki's ancestor, he would've preferred if she'd opted for something a little less dangerous. One mistake on her part wouldn't just cause Vicki and Tootie to cease to exist, it could potentially make it so that there was never any need for Cosmo and Wanda to become his godparents!

"Hey, I'm nice! Haven't put a bullet between your eyes yet, have I?" The redhead exclaimed, sounding more like a petulant child than the feared outlaw she apparently was.

"You're a saint, truly." The fifteen year old deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, how far do you wanna go? We're already a pretty good distance from town..."

"Yeah, but why do you say it like that?" Vicky spurred her horse again, bringing it up alongside the green cow her companion rode. "Are you beginning to find my company tiresome, Timmy?"

The buck-toothed teen frowned, noticing a particular inflection in the girl's tone that felt the slightest bit familiar. The last time he'd heard it was when they were still in their cell at the Sheriff's office; a little crack in her normally confident voice that made him wonder if Vicky was going to cry. It was more subdued this time, less obvious, but still evident enough for him to notice. It sounded a lot like hurt. "No, it's not that, but… I think we should probably go our separate ways."

Before long, the two came to a stop by a particularly large, oval-shaped boulder, propped up on a few smaller ones in such a way that it provided a bit of shelter from the relentless heat of the desert sun.

"Hah..." A shaky sigh escaped the older girl, her once-confident expression fading into a more melancholic one. "Suppose this _is_ as far as we agreed on… Got me outta that cell, my equipment back, and even rode out here with me… Guess I-… I dunno, I was hoping you'd stick with me a little longer, maybe-heh-let me thank you a bit more _properly_..." Vicky offered in a similar sultry tone like she had back in their cell, though it was marred by a painful, knot-like feeling in her throat.

"I… I'm not gonna say it's not a tempting offer, but..." _"But I've really messed around with this time period enough."_ He thought to himself, at a loss for what he could _possibly_ say to the redhead.

"...Save it, Timmy." The redhead sniffled, taking a moment to wipe her eyes. "I'm not some dewy-eyed little girl who's gonna cry her eyes out over something like this; I've got a reputation to think about." She smiled, forcing back the hurt she was positive was etched all over her face. "Just..." Giving her horse's reins another light tug, Vicky directed it to sidestep over next to the brunet's own steed. "C-C'mere real quick?"

Timmy oriented himself to face the pink-eyed girl and leaned toward her, a curious frown playing at his lips.

Vicky's hand darted out, catching the fifteen year old by his bandanna and the collar of his shirt, and leaned toward him as she pulled him close, planting a rough, forceful kiss on Timmy's lips, before finally pulling away and releasing him after a few(more like several) seconds, both teens' cheeks blushing a bright shade of pink. "Don't you _dare_ forget about me this time, got it?"

"O-Okay, um… I… I won't." Timmy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, taking notice of a faint tingling sensation on his lips.

"I-I mean it!" The sixteen year old's blush darkened to match the color of a ripened tomato. "If you forget… Th-There's gonna be Hell to pay…!" Vicky looked down at her hands and began straightening out her gloves, though it was really just a poor attempt to hide her blushing cheeks and rather frustrated expression.

"Okay, I get it!" Timmy put his hands up defensively in the face of the older teen's threatening tone. "I wish I had something you could remember _me_ by..."

 _Poof!_

No sooner had the words left the brunet's mouth than did he hear the familiar sound from his godparents' wands, indicating that his wish had been granted. "Wha…?" Timmy looked back and forth between Cosmo and Wanda, who simply returned quizzical looks in response. "No, I didn't mean for you two-"

"You've left enough of an impression already, Turner." Vicky interjected, giving her ponytail a quick toss to get some of the excess desert sand out of it. "Not much of a fan of goodbyes anyway, so… I guess I'll see you… When I see you." Without another word, the redhead spurred her horse, which took off in a rapid gallop, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

"Hm." Timmy hummed somberly, offering a final wave to the girl that he knew she wouldn't see. "Can't believe my first _real_ kiss was from... One of _Vicki's_ _ **ancestors**_..."

"I can't believe she lived long enough to have _kids_. Living the life of an outlaw doesn't give you much opportunity to settle down, after all..." Wanda spoke up, poofing herself back into her fairy form, though like Timmy, she wore more period-appropriate attire, consisting of a somewhat poofy, western-style dress. "Well, we're still with you, so I can only assume she'll be fine. Ready to head back to our own time, Sport?"

"Oh jeez, that's right! I'm supposed to be hanging out with Heather and Vicky today! Yeah, um… I wish we were back in my time, and my room, right after we first left!" Upon speaking the wish, the fifteen year old and his godparents disappeared in a puff of purple smoke…

 _In the present…_

"I wish I was in Dimmsdale Flats, but a couple months after the last time!" Timmy exclaimed, his godparents' wands emitting several bright sparks, before poofing the three of them back in time.

 _Poof!_

"Ugh..." Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda reappeared in the brunet's bedroom, now significantly dustier than they'd been mere seconds before. Shuffling over to his bed, Timmy promptly collapsed into it with a muffled thump, and buried his face in his pillow, while his godparents transformed into their goldfish forms, and dropped into their fishbowl. "Maybe I can get a quick nap in before Vicki-"

 _Bzz!_

"Timmy!" Cosmo suddenly appeared; now in his true, fairy form, next to his godchild, presenting Timmy's phone to him. "You have a text message!"

"Great~..." The brunet replied sarcastically, then rolled over and accepted his phone from his godfather. A quick swipe across the screen turned it on, revealing that he had a text from Vicki. "Rise and shine, Twerp." He read the text aloud, then let his arm drop to his side limply. "...Time travel sucks."

* * *

A/N2: Right, so now that _that's_ out of the way, and I'm no longer in danger of spoiling any content in this chapter, should you wish to review, let me know if there's any interest in a fic that continues the Old West setting, as it's personally something I'd like to try my hand at, and if there's interest in the idea, I'll certainly try my best to deliver.


	5. Chapter 5

"Augh..." Timmy yawned loudly as he roughly tousled and dried his hair with a towel, his skin still mildly damp from having only _just_ stepped out of the shower. "Blech, that dusty sand gets _everywhere_..." Slinging his towel around the back of his neck, the brunet wiped the excess condensation off the bathroom mirror and looked his face's reflection over. For the most part, he looked and felt re-energized by his shower, though his time with Vicky the Kid had definitely left him a bit mentally exhausted.

He took a few steps back from the mirror, bringing more of his body's reflection into view, the bottom edge of the mirror cutting off said reflection just below his navel. Despite his many adventures since meeting Cosmo and Wanda, he was surprisingly still of relatively average build; not skinny, certainly not fat, but not particularly muscular, either. Average suited him to a T, and what muscle he had was only vaguely defined on his arms and chest, with a bit of what people tended to call 'baby fat' still lingering; albeit indistinctly, across his body.

Not to say he was overly concerned with his outward appearance in the first place, so long as his hair was relatively neat and he was clean, that was usually enough, but like anyone, he still took the occasional moment or two after showering to look himself over.

"Mngh-Ahh..." The brunet squeezed his eyes closed, stretching his arms up over his head and wincing as his bones popped and cracked, loosening up his stiff joints. "Better get dressed before Vicki gets here..." He snatched the towel off his shoulders and gave it a quick shake, then wrapped and secured it around his waist. Normally he wouldn't have bothered, and instead would've left the bathroom with it draped over his shoulders, since his parents had already left for the day, but considering Vicki was on her way, or alternatively, might already be _in the house_ , he opted to preserve a bit of his modesty, just to be on the safe side. _"Bet_ Vicky _would've_ enjoyed _the free show..."_ Timmy mused to himself, an odd little chill running up his spine at the memory of the redheaded girl.

Exiting the bathroom, the fifteen year old strode across the hall and reentered his bedroom, before shutting the door behind him and locking it, just in case a _certain_ babysitter decided to come up and let herself in while he was getting dressed. "Hm… I should probably send her a reply so she knows I'm up, now that I think about it..."

"Finally! I was starting to think you got lost in your own house!" Vicki chimed in, speaking in an upbeat tone of voice.

"Gah!" Timmy, to his credit, handled the sudden, unexpected presence of his babysitter like any rational person would, and very nearly jumped out of his own skin in surprise, his fingers tightly grasping the edge of the towel he wore around his waist. "Wha-?!" He spun around in place, his bright blue eyes locking onto his babysitter, who currently relaxed on his bed, leaning back with her arms oriented behind her to hold her up, the palms of her hands firmly planted against the mattress. "Wh-What are you doing here?!"

"Picking you up?" Vicki questioned rather innocently, pushing herself up into a more natural sitting position. "I _did_ send you a text to wake you up… What's got you so on edge, Twerp?" An evil grin crept its way across her face, starkly contrasting the innocent tone with which she spoke.

"I-… You-! ...Nothing..." The teen sighed wearily, bringing his right hand up to his chest to calm his racing heart, while continuing to firmly grasp the towel around his waist with his left. Refocusing his attention on the redhead, he immediately noticed her bright green tank-top and black shorts, along with the short black socks she wore; her sneakers just a few feet to her left, by the side of his bed. "Hot out?"

"Yep. Humid too. Gotta love summer in southern California." Vicki answered back with a shrug, watching her charge as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then lightly rubbed his left bicep with his right hand, his other hand still keeping a tight hold on the towel he wore around his waist. "Something wrong?"

"Uh… W-Well _no_ , it's just… You're… Kind of… _In here_?" The teen briefly glanced around his room, the cold air from the air conditioner in his window making goosebumps flare across his bare, damp flesh.

"An astute observation." The twenty-one year old remarked dryly, quirking an eyebrow up at Timmy. "Figured I'd come up here to see if my text got you up, only to find that you were already in the bathroom… Y'know, you really ought to lock the door when you take a shower..."

"Eh… Wh-What?" The brunet stammered out, his cheeks taking on a noticeable pink hue.

"Mm-hm. I took a sec to peek in, make sure you were alright, since all I heard was the water running. But then I saw that you were, and with your room being the only cool one in the house, I decided to come in here and relax while I waited for you." Again, the older girl spoke in an innocuous, friendly tone, as if suggesting that peeking in on the brunet showering was the most natural thing in the world.

"What-Uh… You didn't… Um… D-Did you s-see… Anything?" Timmy adopted an almost full-on stutter, his nervousness getting the better of him as he unconsciously glanced down at his towel, which now felt like it barely covered him at all.

"Nothing you didn't want me to." Vicki replied with a wink and a smile, doing little to reassure her Twerp, whose blush only darkened further at her response.

"Uh… A-Alright..." He stammered out sheepishly, another chill running up his spine, though this one was caused by the low temperature of his room, or so he told himself. "I-Uh… I need to get dressed if we're gonna go anywhere, so… Mind letting me have my room back for a few minutes?"

"Mm… Nah, I guess not." The redhead pushed herself to her feet and slipped her sneakers back on, then made her way over to the door, only to come to a stop as Timmy continued to stand in front of it, barring her way. "Something on your mind?" She asked genuinely, crossing her arms as she watched the brunet briefly look her up and down, before he eventually locked eyes with her again.

"Hm? Ah-! No, I was just thinking about you-" The teen caught himself, his eyes briefly widening in surprise at his mouth's betrayal, earning him a curious look from his babysitter, who again quirked an eyebrow up at his somewhat odd behavior. "Y-You-Ah…! Your outfit! I'm just… Used to seeing you wear… What you n-normally… Wear." He blushed furiously, scarcely able to believe how much of a stammering mess he'd suddenly become in front of the older girl, and having absolutely _no_ idea as to _why_. "I-Er… Y-You- You look nice!" Timmy flinched as he finished, blinking his eyes closed in preparation for the verbal reprimand he was _sure_ Vicki was about to deliver to him on a silver platter.

What he _didn't_ expect; however, was for the redhead to bend down slightly so her face was nearly level with his, and gently place her right hand on his forehead, her fingers and palm cool against his warm, flushed skin. The contact prompted the fifteen year old to hesitantly open his eyes and meet the girl's gaze, her own eyes betraying a hint of… Something. She almost looked… Concerned?

"Jeez, Twerp. You're a _mess_ today. You sure you're feeling alright?" Vicki slowly slid her hand back and forth across her charge's forehead, all while he continued to stare at her bemusedly, his cheeks still flushed a rosy shade of pink. "You don't _feel_ like you have a fever..." She leaned in ever closer, leaving their faces mere centimeters apart. "But you do _look_ kind of tired… What time did you get to bed?"

"Ah… Around eleven, I guess…?" Timmy replied quietly, wondering where this sudden display of affection from his babysitter was coming from. That wasn't to say he thought she didn't _care_ about him, he knew for a fact that she did… In her own way. But this level of concern from her was entirely alien to him. As far as he could remember, she'd never been _quite_ so physical with him as she was being now, save for the rare occasion over the past seven years he'd known the girl where their lives had been on the line. He might have even felt the attention comforting, in a way, were it not for the fact that he was standing in front of the girl in little more than a damp towel.

"Well that certainly _sounds_ like enough sleep..." The twenty-one year old leaned away, her hand leaving the teen's forehead as she stood up straight again. "Want me to call off our plans to hang out with Heather? Could always hang out here and just relax if you're not feeling up to it?"

"N-No, I'm fine, really." The brunet shot his babysitter a nervous smile, hoping to reassure her. "You just...Surprised me, that's all. I didn't expect you to be in here, and I… Eh… Almost didn't recognize you, because of… Y'know." He absently rubbed the back of his head while gesturing at the redhead's attire with his free hand, nonchalantly trying to play off his earlier embarrassment.

" _Really_?" Vicki asked, crossing her arms as she shot the teen a knowing little smirk. "You normally blush that much when someone surprises you?"

Now he _knew_ the older girl was messing with him, her smirk and tone easily giving her away. _"Two can play at that game..."_ Timmy thought to himself confidently, figuring he was on friendly enough terms with his babysitter to at least _attempt_ to give her a taste of her own medicine. "Only when someone surprises me while I'm wearing nothing but a towel. It's a good thing I expected you to be around, actually. If you were a little less predictable, you probably would've caught me in just my birthday suit!" He grinned cheekily, noticing the absolute _faintest_ dusting of pink appear on the older girl's cheeks as her teasing smirk dropped by the tiniest amount.

" _Please_." The redhead scoffed, her tone indicating she hadn't lost her composure in the _slightest_. "You can try to talk a big game all. You. Want." She brought her hand up beneath Timmy's chin, then stuck out her index finger and forcibly tilted his head up a little so he was staring directly into her eyes. "But the only experience you've got is with that spoiled little Princess, and even _calling_ it 'experience' is being _more_ than generous, Twerp." Vicki's smirk widened into an evil grin as Timmy's own grin began to fade into a bemused, nervous frown. "In fact, I think that if push came to shove..." The girl dipped ever closer, just _barely_ stopping short of her nose brushing against Timmy's, her warm breath ghosting over the teen's lips as her voice took on a sultry inflection that he realized sounded just a little _too_ familiar. "...You wouldn't even know what to _do_ with a woman in that situation."

The brunet was left speechless, his mind racing a mile a minute while his heart pounded against his ribs, feeling like it could leap into his throat at any second. Where had this overtly flirtatious Vicki come from? Ever since their relationship had first improved, his babysitter had always had a certain way of speaking to him that was teasing, in a friendly kind of way, and at times, it even seemed a bit like playful flirting that he at least _thought_ didn't mean anything, and obviously wouldn't go anywhere. Now though, with the two of them in the privacy of his room(and Timmy himself barely clothed), he couldn't help but wonder if there had always been more to it than that, and he'd simply been too naive to realize it. _"_ _It might explain how she's acting… She's definitely never done anything like this in public, or_ _not even when it was just me, her, and Heather_ _..."_ Timmy thought to himself, only just now realizing he was pressing his back against his bedroom door.

"Of course..." The pink-eyed girl flicked her thumb up, settling it on her charge's lower lip before giving it a gentle, downward tug, slightly parting the boy's lips. "You could always back up that big game you were just talking and prove me wrong~…?" She almost sang the question out, a playful glint in her eyes.

"I- You're- Are you… You're seriously-…?" Timmy trailed off quietly, his flushed cheeks taking on a color closer to cherry-red than pink. _"She_ can't _be! Her ancestor back in the Old West,_ maybe _, but Vicki?!_ My _Vicki?! Is Cupid just messing with me today, or what?!"_ He glanced out of the corner of his left eye at his godparents' fishbowl, the two fairies-turned-goldfish within shooting him looks of concern.

"I could be." Vicki replied coyly, flashing her teeth at the brunet with a grin. "All you have to do is ask _very_ nice-"

 _Vrr!_

The redhead's eyes widened ever so slightly, before narrowing in annoyance as she broke eye contact with Timmy and glanced away. Her phone, nestled in her left back pocket and nearly forgotten, vibrated again, indicating that _someone_ was texting her. "Honestly, people in my life have the _worst_ timing..." Vicki muttered under breath as she stood up, her thumb slipping off Timmy's lip as she reached into her back pocket and produced her phone. "Hah… I'll let you get dressed. Tootie's texting me, and you know how _she_ gets when you don't answer." She sighed out as she looked down at her phone, a noticeable tinge of disappointment in her tone.

"Oh! Ah… R-Right, I'll-Er… I'll get out of your way..." The fifteen year old stepped away from his bedroom door, quickly reaching down and catching the towel around his waist as he felt its grip on him begin to slacken. He watched as Vicki wordlessly exited his room, then gently pushed the door closed behind her, before leaning his right arm and elbow against it, and butting his forehead against the aforementioned arm. "Phew…" The brunet let out a weary, relieved sigh, his heart rate at last beginning to calm down.

A few moments after they were sure Vicki was no longer by the door to their godchild's bedroom, Cosmo and Wanda poofed out of their fishbowl and hovered over to him. "So that was… Unexpected." Wanda gave her wand a quick shake, instantly replacing the towel covering Timmy with a pair of dark blue jeans, his pink shirt, hat, a pair of socks, and finally, his sneakers, leaving him dry and fully dressed.

"You can say that again..." The teen replied with another sigh, pushing himself up and off of his door. "I don't even know what brought that on! Was she acting weird before I came in here?"

"Hm… No, I wouldn't say so." The pinkette cupped her chin in thought. "I mean, it goes without saying that she doesn't come into your room very often in the first place, not unless you're already in here, anyway. But when she did today, all she really did was look at a few things on your computer desk, a few of your video games, and… That's it. She mostly just sat on your bed and waited for you to come out of the bathroom, right, Cosmo?"

"Mm-hm!" The green-haired fairy nodded in agreement with his wife, humming with his mouth closed, a small tin of fish food in his hand. "She also fed us!" Cosmo exclaimed happily, tossing another handful of the colorful food flakes into his mouth.

"Well, that too." Wanda shrugged. "But Vicki loves animals anyway, so even _that_ isn't particularly odd. The bigger question is: Why is Vicki acting like that when she _knows_ you're dating Trixie?"

"Probably because she's talked to Tootie a few times about Trixie." Timmy replied tiredly, the very _idea_ of revisiting the topic of his girlfriend and Vicki and Tootie's disapproval of her, exhausting him. "Vicki… Hasn't exactly tried to hide that she doesn't like Trixie. The way she was acting at the mall yesterday, I thought they might get into a fight, or at least a serious argument." The teen blushed again. While _some_ guys might like the idea of two girls fighting over them, this wasn't the case for Timmy. For one, he was dating Trixie, and he liked Vicki as a friend; he hated the idea of having to choose one over the other.

Secondly, up until now, the idea of Vicki liking him as _more_ than just a friend had never even crossed his mind. Sure, they were a lot closer now than they'd been when he was ten, and he did honestly enjoy spending time with her and Heather, but he really had no clue how to handle the redhead's sudden forwardness. It wasn't quite _off-putting_ , as Vicki was unquestionably attractive in her own right, but it definitely confused the young teen.

Finally, he couldn't quite dispel the idea that maybe his babysitter _wasn't_ interested in him like that, with his encounter with her ancestor only adding to this idea. Sure, she'd called him cute, and had made him an offer of a 'roll in the hay', as she'd put it, but even at fifteen, he knew enough that an offer of sex didn't equate to genuine affection. Considering how stressful her day had been, the Vicky of the Old West might've just wanted to blow off some steam, something he couldn't really blame her for, as he'd be lying if he said her offer hadn't been just a _little_ tempting.

That said, he had to wonder then, if _his_ Vicki was being genuine, or not. It was entirely possible that he was overthinking this, and he knew it, but it crossed his mind that maybe, just _maybe_ , the older girl was trying to drive a wedge between him and Trixie.

The fifteen year old shook his head back and forth, clearing the notion from his head. _"No way, Vicki's devious, and she obviously doesn't like Trixie, but trying to break us up?"_ Timmy mentally reassured himself, at last coming to the conclusion that Vicki was probably just messing with him again, and had taken it a _bit_ further than he was used to. "It's probably nothing, Wanda. Vicki's just… Like that sometimes. You've seen her get weirdly overprotective towards me out of nowhere before." He remarked offhandedly, despite not _quite_ being convinced by his own words.

"I… Suppose you have a point there, Sport. You've told Vicki about Trixie on more than one occasion yourself, and assuming you're right, she might just be acting out in jealousy." Wanda conceded, realizing that at fifteen, her godchild was evidently still a bit naive. "How _are_ you and Trixie doing, anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, great!" Timmy exclaimed with a wide smile, happy to stray away from the significantly moodier conversation about his babysitter. "Aside from her and Vicki almost getting into an argument at the mall, we had a lot of fun walking around, shopping… Just normal, boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, I guess."

"Really? And what did you two end up getting?" The pink-haired fairy raised an eyebrow at her teenage godson, already having a _pretty_ good idea as to how he'd respond.

"Well I mostly got her things… I mean, I don't mind, obviously. That's what boyfriends are supposed to do, right?"

"Well sure!" Cosmo poofed into existence right next to Timmy, snaking his arm around the teen's shoulders. "That's a surefire way to get in good with women, Timmy; be a gentleman!"

"Honey, you ate with your _feet_ on our first date." Wanda deadpanned, shooting her husband a flat look.

"But I did it _like a gentleman_ ~!" Cosmo drawled out in a sing-song tone.

" _How_ is eating spaghetti with your _feet_ anything remotely _close_ togentlemanly?"

"The point is-" The green-haired fairy began, ignoring his wife's question. "-Relationships are all about meeting each other halfway. I'm sure Trixie was very appreciative of you buying her all those things, right?"

"Yeah, of course! After I carried her stuff all the way back to the food court in the mall, she gave me a nice pat on the shoulder when she saw that I was kind of tired! She's the best!" The teen responded in a genuinely happy and appreciative tone, with Cosmo poofing back next to Wanda as he finished.

"Hear that Wanda?! A shoulder pat!" Cosmo nearly yelled, his voice heavy with hurt and desperation. "We're _married_ , and you've never given _me_ a pat on the shoulder!"

At this, the pinkette fairy facepalmed, practically slapping her own face from how hard she did it. Without a word, Wanda grabbed her husband by the collar of his shirt, pulled him close, and planted a quick, forceful kiss on his lips, then released him, at which point Cosmo dropped to the floor with a loud thud and a massive smile on his lips, his eyes wide and glazed over as little magical hearts floated up off his person. It was probably the most cartoonish response Timmy had seen from his fairy godfather in a good long while, and that was saying something.

"Huh… So _that's_ Cosmo's off switch." The teen muttered out as he looked down at his floored godfather, then back up at Wanda.

"No Timmy, that's most _anyone's_ off switch, when it comes from the right person." The pink-haired fairy corrected her godchild, the corners of her mouth curled up into a self-satisfied smirk. "I'm sure you have the same response even when Trixie gives you a little peck on the cheek."

"I guess so…? Maybe? Trixie and I… Well, you know, she's not really big on public displays like hugs or kisses, so… She hasn't..." Timmy trailed off, falling silent as he absently scratched at his nose with his index finger. _"Why does it feel strange to say that?"_ He thought to himself, noticing an unfamiliar feeling in both his chest, and somewhere in the back of his mind. It wasn't the same as heartache, or even how he felt back when Trixie used to turn him down, _this_ feeling was different from those, and to him, it almost felt like longing, or maybe even a certain degree of envy.

"Wait, Sport. Honestly now, Trixie's never _hugged_ you even _once_ since the two of you started dating?" Wanda queried in a surprised, incredulous tone. While she wasn't exactly 'in the loop' regarding the teen's girlfriend, as Timmy was usually more keen on going on adventures than discussing Trixie with herself or Cosmo, she figured after three years(and plenty of teenage hormones) that Timmy would have gotten a kiss on the cheek, or at _least_ a hug! " _Have_ you two even kissed yet?" She blushed, hoping she wasn't being too forward with her questions.

"Er… N-No… That-… That's why I was surprised back in Dimmsdale Flats when Vicky's great, great… Whatever she is, kissed me, remember? _That_ was my first real… Y'know, _adult_ kiss." Timmy replied hesitantly, his blush returning in full force at the memory. "I don't even know _why_ she did it, I mean, me and her weren't dating, obviously..."

"No, but _that_ Vicky… She clearly liked you, and I can only assume she thought a kiss would leave more of an impression of her on you than if she gave you something more… Material, like a trinket, or something like that." Wanda shrugged with a frown, still feeling confused in regards to her godson's relationship with Trixie. From what she'd heard so far, it was beginning to sound more and more like Trixie wasn't contributing to the relationship the same way Timmy was, or worse, was simply letting him buy her things as a sort of 'payment' for her deigning to date him. "I know you crushed on Trixie for… Well, quite a while, but now that you two are dating… What exactly do you even _do_ together?"

"I'unno, just normal relationship stuff. Go see movies sometimes, though we usually end up going to the mall to hang out and go shopping. Occasionally we go to a fancy restaurant that her family owns… That sort of thing." Timmy swiped his phone off his end table, followed by his wallet out of the drawer, pocketing both. "Why are you suddenly so interested, anyway? Trixie and I have been dating for three years; you never asked about her before…?"

"Well no, but you don't really bring her up all that often around Cosmo or myself, either." Wanda stated with a quick shrug. "Up until now, what little you've told us sounded like things were fine between the two of you, and I figured no news was good news, Sweetie." Her voice took on a concerned, motherly tone that Timmy had become _very_ familiar with over the years. "Hearing about your relationship with this girl now, though..."

"Yeah…? What is it?" The brunet tilted his head slightly, a curious look on his face.

"...I know I'm not your _mother_ , Timmy, but you know I still worry about you all the same as your fairy godmother, so… I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but… Oh, what's the best way to put this…?" Wanda cupped her chin and looked up toward the ceiling in thought. "I'm just wondering if maybe… Are you… Happy, dating Trixie?"

"Huh? What kind of a question is _that_?" The teen asked in confusion, shooting his godmother an incredulous look. "Of course I am! You remember the day I came home after she finally agreed to go out with me! I had to stop myself from hugging _Vicki_ , I was so happy!" Timmy exclaimed giddily, his smile nearly rivaling Cosmo's.

"But _why_ are you happy?" Wanda asked rather seriously, making her godchild's grin instantly fade into a confused, unsure frown.

"Uh… What do you mean _why_? 'Cause I really, really like Trixie, duh. She's pretty, she's nice, she's smart and funny, and I… I just like being around her. I feel… Happy, around her. Like, I get this warm feeling when we're together, and things just feel… Right, I guess." The fifteen year old blushed, his lips again curling up into a(slightly less) wide smile. What he obviously _didn't_ tell Wanda was that the past day and a half had left him feeling odd about his relationship with the dark-haired girl. The thought of being around her still filled him with joy, and he was certainly looking forward to seeing her again; whenever they made plans to do so, but something just felt… Off, somehow.

Why did Vicki seem to have a problem with Trixie? Why did she feel the need to emphasize so much yesterday that Trixie was somehow using him? 'Vicky the Kid' had suggested something similar as well, and now even _Wanda_ was taking an interest, all of which had begun to pique the brunet's own curiosity, leaving him to wonder if there was something he was missing in all this. He knew and would readily admit that he wasn't a genius like AJ, or not even as 'street smart', in some cases, as Chester, but he couldn't shake the feeling that a few of the women in his life; even Heather, might be privy to something that he, quite simply, wasn't.

"...Alright, Timmy. So long as you're happy, so are Cosmo and I." The pinkette fairy conceded, despite not being entirely satisfied with her godchild's answer. "Speaking of, you'd better go down and let Vicki know you're ready to go, she seemed to be in a _pretty_ good mood today, herself." Wanda adopted a mildly suggestive inflection in her tone, causing Timmy's cheeks to flush beet-red.

"Ehehe… Yeah, I think she likes to take her teasing up a notch to keep me on my toes..." The teen rubbed the back of his head and glanced away evasively, breaking eye contact with his godmother. "A-Anyway, since Vicki said we're just gonna be hanging at her house today, I probably won't need to make any wishes, so… I guess you and Cosmo have the day off?"

"Oh, well I have some things I need to take care of anyway, and Cosmo..." Wanda glanced down at her husband, who continued to lay on the floor in a near-catatonic state. "...Might be out for a while. You go have fun with Vicki and Heather though, just… _Try_ to stay out of trouble, Sweetie."

"You make it sound like I go _looking_ for trouble!" Timmy replied in a mock-offended tone. "In case you haven't noticed, 'trouble' is the one that comes looking for me!"

"I know, I know. I'm only teasing you, Timmy." Wanda chuckled quietly, earning her a less than amused frown from her godchild as he pulled open his bedroom door to leave.

"Jeez, too bad Vicki can't know about you, I bet you two would be the best of friends, always teasing me..." The fifteen year old briefly stuck his tongue out at the pink-haired fairy, before stepping out into the hall and shutting the door behind him.

Wanda merely rolled her eyes at how childish her godson could _still_ be, then floated down next to her husband and snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Cosmo? ...Cosmo!" She nearly shouted, but all she got in response was a slight tilt of the green-haired fairy's head towards her. "Hah… I'm going out for a bit, just to do some… Investigating. You'll be alright by yourself, right?"

Cosmo simply continued to stare, his expression still frozen into a wide grin.

"...Blink once for 'yes', twice for 'no'." Wanda deadpanned, beginning to wonder if her husband was just having fun at her expense.

Slowly, the green-haired fairy blinked his eyes closed, then opened them.

"Great! Lunch is in the fridge, bye Honey!" The pinkette hovered close and planted a quick peck on her husband's cheek, before poofing away in a could of purple smoke.

 _Downstairs…_

"Hah..." Vicki sighed out in boredom as she laid on the couch, her head hanging back over its arm. "Should've brought something to read..."

"Sorry, sorry! I'm coming!" Timmy called out as he rapidly descended the stairs from the second floor, his footfalls creating a hollow, reverberating knock on each wooden step.

"Not yet you're not..." The redhead muttered out, grinning to herself as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the couch, then rose to her feet. "All set then? You said goodbye to your fish? Got everything you'll need for the day?"

"I think so..." The teen wondered aloud, giving the pockets containing his phone and wallet a few quick pats. "Yeah, think I got everything. What about you? Everything alright with Tootie?" He asked, remembering the life-saving text his friend had sent her sister. _"Well,_ life-saving _might be pushing it, but..."_

The redhead hesitated for a moment, as she'd expected her Twerp to bring up their little 'encounter' back in his room. _"I wonder if I was a little too forward with him… I could bring it up, but..."_ She glanced down at the cable box below the TV, which indicated the time as five past eleven. _"Ugh, no time. We're behind as it is, and Heather should be getting out of the tub soon, if she's not_ already _."_ Vicki mused to herself as she looked back up at Timmy. "Oh, she was just wondering who's in the bathroom at the house. Heather got up late-big surprise-so when I picked her up, I told her to just shower at my house."

"Ah, alright then." Timmy gave the older girl a quick nod, then somewhat stiffly turned on his heel and made for the door, while Vicki simply shook her head back and forth before following him.

" _Heh, guess we're just gonna pretend it didn't happen… For_ now _..."_ Vicki thought to herself, stifling a giggle at her charge's visibly tense posture and gait. She reached for the doorknob, only for her hand to pause midway through the action as Timmy grasped the knob first and opened the door, his blue eyes locking onto her pink ones as she stared down at him with a bemused smirk.

"Er… L-Ladies, first?" The teen's cheeks bore a light dusting of pink as he held the door, and he had no idea why. It wasn't as if he'd never held the door for the redhead before, but somehow, doing it _now_ felt… Strange. Awkward, even. He knew it was the right thing to do, but then why was it so embarrassing _this_ time, and not all the others?

At this, Vicki stifled a giggle, though not particularly well. "Heehee! Well aren't _you_ a gentleman, today…!" The girl smiled to herself as she headed out the front door, sashaying her hips just a _bit_ more than usual as she made her way over to her car, then turned to face Timmy again, who only _now_ had the presence of mind to step out of his house and shut the door behind him. _"Ah… Having this much fun should be illegal…!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Vicki pulled her car into her house's driveway and shifted it into park, then turned it off, withdrawing the key from the ignition as she pushed her door open and began to get out. "So what, you really haven't heard this story?" The redhead asked as she hopped out of her car and closed the door, then waited for her charge to do the same before she continued.

"No, don't think so." Timmy responded as he made his way around his babysitter's car and over to the driver's side. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence on the way over to her house, Vicki had decided quite out of the blue to tell him about the various exploits and shenanigans she and Heather tended to get into when it was just the two of them. He finally had an idea as to why Heather seemed a bit uncomfortable the first few times the three of them went to the Dimmsdale Super Mall, how the two of them almost ended up getting caught by security after sneaking into Dimmsdale High's swimming pool after hours, and now, apparently, that Heather was banned from a shop in the mall that sold various weapons for home and self defense.

"Okay, you're gonna love this..." The twenty-one year old remarked with a grin as she passed by the brunet and strode up her house's front walk, with Timmy falling into step a few paces behind and to her right. "So we go there because Heather needs a new battery for her stun-gun, right?"

"She has a _stun-gun_?" The fifteen year old questioned skeptically, quirking an eyebrow up at his babysitter, though her attention was more focused on her front door as she climbed the porch steps and began fiddling with her keys.

"Don't look at me with that tone of voice! She _does_! This big, bulky thing that she's never even _used_!" Vicki waved Timmy's skepticism off dismissively, quietly chuckling all the while. "As it turns out, the only reason she needed a new battery is because the charge in the old one just fizzled out from disuse." She paused for a moment to unlock her front door, then turned the knob and gave it a quick push, before finally stepping inside and sighing in relief at the relative coolness of her house's living room. "Ah… _So_ glad my parents decided to get central air conditioning..."

"I thought you liked the heat?" The fifteen year old asked as he shut the front door behind them, his eyes briefly scanning the living room, before once more falling on Vicki.

"Well I like taking a hot _shower_ when I get up, and I don't mind sunbathing for a while, but all this hot and humid weather can get tiresome." The redhead shrugged as she turned to face her charge. "If I'm just hanging out at home though, I'd rather it be cool. If I get too cold, I can just grab a blanket to warm up, but if I'm all hot and sweaty, it's a bit harder to cool off, y'know?"

"I guess." The teen replied in a noncommittal tone as he moved past his babysitter, shrugging much like she had a few moments before.

" _Anyway_..." Vicki began with a roll of her eyes, then spun around to follow after Timmy as he made his way into the kitchen. "So we get to the store, and I'm just browsing the aisles, looking for something to threaten you with..."

"Come again?" The brunet peeked up from behind the now open refrigerator door, his right eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Before the thing with Tootie. This was back when I still didn't really like you." The girl remarked nonchalantly, taking a moment to look at her nails, as if to further prove how very aloof she was regarding her past, less than stellar treatment of the boy in front of her.

"So should I take that to mean you _do_ like me now?" A sly grin crept across Timmy's face, though it remained hidden behind the door of the refrigerator.

"That even a serious question, at this point?" The pink-eyed girl asked incredulously, though a visibly amused smile played at her lips. "Why would I hang out with you if I didn't _like_ being around you?"

"Well, it _is_ your _job_ to keep an eye on me." Timmy stated matter-of-factly, then bent down, disappearing behind the fridge door.

"Uh-huh..." Vicki nodded in agreement, then stepped forward and leaned on the fridge door with her elbow, propping her head up in her hand as she stared down at the brunet searching through the fridge itself. "But we both know I could leave you home alone, go do my own thing, come back a few minutes before your parents got back, and everything would be just fine. I mean, let's face it, you're fifteen now, you don't _need_ a babysitter at your age..." She reached down with her free hand, hooking her index and middle fingers into the teen's shirt, then gave it an upward tug, bidding that Timmy stand up so he was _almost_ eye-level with her again. "That said, I _know_ you told your parents to keep me on as your babysitter, so evidently, you must want me around, right?"

"Well… Yeah, I like hanging out with you." Timmy felt his cheeks heat up from how close his face was to Vicki's. Much like her ancestor who he'd dealt with earlier that day, Vicki; as of late, had a bit of a habit of getting close and a little touchy with him. He didn't find it uncomfortable so much as he simply found it _odd_ , but then, she was still nowhere _near_ as touchy-feely as Tootie had once been.

"And that's it?" The twenty-one year old allowed her arm to drop so it was laying flat across the top of the fridge door, then settled her chin on it, now putting her at exactly eye-level with the teen. "Should I take _that_ to mean you _don't_ like me? You just like hanging out with me?"

"I didn't mean _that_..." Timmy remarked evasively, breaking eye contact with the older girl as his cheeks pinkened a tiny bit more. "I _do_ like you; you're a good friend, I just… Didn't want to make things weird between us or… Or y'know, jinx the fact that we _are_ friends now. That's… I mean, that's why I don't really say it all that much, I don't want to come off as sappy or anything..." He briefly glanced down at the shelves of the ajar fridge door, and at last noticed the familiar bottle he'd been searching for. "Aha!" Snatching the bottle of pink liquid up, Timmy unscrewed the cap and raised the container to his lips, then took a few big gulps from it. Aside from when he'd brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth out, this was the first thing he'd had to drink since returning from Dimmsdale Flats, so needless to say, he was parched.

"Yeah, 'cause it'd be just like me to stop hanging out with you because you _told_ me you like hanging out with me." Vicki rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "And you're worried about making things 'weird'?" Reaching over the fridge door with her free arm, the redhead snatched the bottle of pink lemonade out of her charge's grasp and stood up straight, then took a quick sip from it. "Twerp, think about all the crap we've been through over the years. We're _already_ weird."

"...Touche." Timmy agreed, watching as his babysitter took another sip from the bottle of lemonade, then spun around on her heel and made her way back into the living room. "H-Hey! That one's _still_ mine-Mngh..." He trailed off with a low, humming growl, opting to simply take another bottle of lemonade, rather than try to get his back from the older girl. "So what happened at that weapon store, anyway?" Timmy called after the redhead as he shut the refrigerator door, then followed her into the living room, only to find her _already_ lounging casually on the couch, though unlike the old days, she made sure to leave enough room for him, as well.

"Mm, right!" Vicki exclaimed, Timmy's reminder serving to jog her memory. "So I'm just browsing while Heather's at the counter, paying for her battery, and once she does, she comes back to look at the weapons with me. Just your standard stuff; battleaxes, katanas, nunchuks… Things like that."

"Okay…?" Timmy replied with a bemused grin as he sat down next to the twenty-one year old, who, due to being stretched out on the couch, took up roughly two and a quarter of the three cushions, with her feet being mere inches from his right thigh. _"_ _When did she take off her socks and shoes?"_ The teen briefly glanced down at the floor next to the couch, Vicki's sneakers and short black socks barely peeking out from around the right side of it.

"But then Heather notices a maul… Or a mace, I'm not sure which it was. It looked like it was meant to be held with both hands, judging by the length of the handle, and on the end is this big, heavy metal ball for a head, covered in short, thick little spikes." Vicki spread her arms in a rough estimate of the weapon's length, guessing it to have been around three and a half feet long.

"Oh no..." The brunet winced, cringing as he began to realize where Vicki's story was going.

"Heehee! So she goes over to this thing and grabs onto the handle, then takes a second to test the weight, before just yanking it off the rack it's sitting on, and she nearly tips over as the head swings towards her, just barely missing her legs as it smashes into the brick wall behind her, which obviously, crumbled from the hit." The redhead giggled at the memory, her friend's surprised expression still fresh in her mind. "So then we both look at each other, and silently agree that we need to make ourselves scarce, but _of course_ Heather decides she needs to do some damage control, so she gives the thing another tug to try and gently swing it up high enough to put it back on the rack, and _instead_ takes out the _entire_ wall of weapons I was looking at, knocking it over in the process!"

"You're kidding… You _must_ be! This all _really_ happened?" Timmy facepalmed, peeking out at his babysitter from between his fingers.

"Cross my heart, and hope to die, Twerp. I had a front-row seat to the incident, though I'm sure Heather'd never admit it if it was just the two of you. Anyway, I look at her after this, and her face is white as a ghost's, while someone a few aisles over is screaming about there being an earthquake, and the owner is swearing up a storm, telling everyone to 'Hit the deck!' in between curses!" The redhead explained in amusement, stopping every now and then to giggle at her charge's reactions. "After that, the place was in so much disarray, with everyone freaking out and covering their heads, me and Heather just decided to make a run for it, and we both sprinted out of the store, through the mall itself, and out to my car… Heh, I can't help but wonder if her face was more red from sprinting all the way to the car, or because of how embarrassed she was!"

" _Vicki_!"

Timmy and Vicki both jumped at the loud exclamation from Heather, her voice high-pitched and sounding rather flustered as she called down from the second floor.

"Speak of the devil..." Vicki let out a quiet chuckle as she rose to her feet with a grin, setting her bottle of lemonade down on the coffee table as she stepped out from between it and the couch. "What's wrong, your ears ringing? Or was it a sneeze?" The redhead yelled up the stairs questioningly, feigning ignorance as the blonde's head popped out from around the corner of the upstairs hall.

"Wha-! Sh-Shut up and get your ass up here, _now_!" The blue-eyed girl called down angrily, the color of her face nearly matching that of a ripened tomato.

"Teehee!" The twenty-one year old giggled as she looked over her shoulder at Timmy, sounding not unlike a giddy, overexcited schoolgirl. "Guess I done a bad thing, huh Twerp?" She asked in a childish tone, before reaching into her pocket and producing her cellphone. "Here-" Vicki tossed her phone at the fifteen year old, who set his own bottle of pink lemonade down quickly as he lunged forward, scrambling to catch the older girl's phone. "-There are a few menus in the kitchen, call whatever delivery place you want while I go see what's up." She rounded the railing as she finished, then quickly marched up the stairs and out of sight.

 _Meanwhile, just a few short minutes prior…_

"Hm?" Heather's eyes shot wide open as she heard the muffled sound of a door being closed; her blue orbs scanning the room she was in for a brief moment, before her brain soon collected itself and she remembered where she was. "Ugh..." She blinked her eyes closed once more and stretched, her legs briefly craning up and out of the warm, bubbly water of the bathtub. "That-Augh..." The blonde cut herself off with a yawn, then sat up in the tub as she again looked around the still-foggy bathroom. "That must be Timmy and Vicki… And _I_ must've dozed off..."

Climbing out of the tub and unplugging it to allow it to drain, the blonde quickly grabbed a towel off the nearby rack and began drying herself off, starting with her hair, then following with the rest of her body, while at the same time making her way over to the hamper by the door, where she'd left her clothes before taking her bath. "Hm… I wonder how long I was out…?" Heather trailed off in a confused tone of voice, noticing the distinct _lack_ of her clothes and boots on top of the hamper. "What the-? Where…?" She took a moment to wrap the towel she'd been drying herself with around her body, then lifted the lid of the hamper, wondering if her clothes had(somehow) fallen in. "No… Not in here..." The blue-eyed girl muttered to herself, then took a step back and looked around in the general vicinity of the hamper, thinking that perhaps her clothes had simply tumbled off. She even went so far as lifting it up to check underneath it, only to sigh in acknowledgment of the obvious. "Where the _Hell_ are my clothes?!" Heather whispered out harshly, before a look of realization at last came over her. "Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me." She deadpanned, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut in annoyance.

The blonde's right hand shot forward, grasped the doorknob and turned it, at which point she quickly(and angrily) yanked it open. " _Vicki_!" She stormed out into the hall, making sure to tightly secure her towel around her as she made her way over to the top of the stairs, her damp feet squeaking on the floorboards with each step.

"What's wrong?" The flustered blonde heard her 'friend' call up to her from the living room. "Your ears ringing? Or was it a sneeze?"

" _Oh great, I can only_ imagine _what she's been telling Timmy about me..."_ Heather peeked her head around the corner of the hall, bracing herself against the wall with both hands as she stared down at her friend, who currently leaned against the railing, meeting her gaze. "Wha-! Sh-Shut up and get your ass up here, _now_!"

She watched the redhead as she cast an aside glance over her shoulder at someone she assumed to be Timmy, with the next words out of Vicki's mouth confirming said assumption. "Teehee! Guess I done a bad thing, huh Twerp? Here-" The slightly older of the two girls watched as Vicki tossed her phone in the direction of the couch, then slipped back around the corner and leaned against the wall as her friend continued to talk. "There are a few menus in the kitchen, call whatever delivery place you want while I go see what's up."

Heather rolled her eyes, gritting her teeth more in annoyance than anger as she heard the redhead climb the stairs to the second floor, then watched as she rounded the corner, coming face to face with the towel-clad blonde.

"Somethin' wrong?" Vicki asked, a playful look in her eyes as she smirked at her freshly-showered friend.

" _Where_ are my clothes, Vicki?!" Heather snapped, her voice barely above a whisper as she glared daggers at the redhead.

"Hey! How do you know it was _me_ who took your clothes?" The girl questioned in an offended tone of voice, her smirk widening to a full-blown grin that instantly gave her away. "I mean, I was picking up Timmy, remember? Maybe Tootie took your clothes? Or who knows, maybe you just misplaced them?"

"Don't try and play coy with me, Vicki. You're no good at it with that big dumb grin on your face." Heather pushed herself up off and away from the wall, then turned to face the twenty-one year old fully, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just gimme back my clothes so I can get dressed and we can put this little 'plan' of yours into action? Honestly, I already told you I'm on board, I dunno why you feel the need to hold my clothes for ransom like this." She remarked wearily, her lips beginning to curl up into a friendly little smile as she assumed this to just be another prank by her somewhat childish best friend.

"Ah, wish I could, but…" The pink-eyed girl chuckled lightly, putting her hands behind her head and clasping her fingers together as she glanced up at the ceiling evasively. "See, the thing is… I _kinda_ took the liberty to wash your clothes for you… They're still in the washer, at the moment. Soaked too, obviously."

"Wha? You're washing them?! _Why_?! My clothes were _already_ clean, remember? You _saw_ me take them out of my dresser when you picked me up!" The blonde shot her friend an incredulous look, thoroughly confused by the girl's actions at this point.

"Hey, it's not a big deal, I made sure to take everything out of your pockets, and your clothes are just in there with a few of my things and some detergent, they'll be fine!" Vicki waved Heather's concern off dismissively, completely ignoring the _actual_ question she'd asked.

"Vicki, that's not- You didn't _have_ to-… Ugh..." Heather bowed her head slightly, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Y'know what? It's already done anyway, just forget it." The blonde pulled an about-face and spun around on her heel, the action producing a loud squeak thanks to her feet still being wet. "You've still got some clean clothes in your room, right?" She called over her shoulder as she started to make her way down the hall towards Vicki's room. "I'll just borrow some of your stuff until mine are done, alrigh~?!" A loud, drawling yelp escaped Heather as she felt cool, slender fingers hook into the back of her towel and pull her to a stop, nearly causing her to tip over from her own momentum, though she just barely managed to catch herself by grabbing the edge of the bathroom doorway. As she began to right herself and stand up straight, the grip of the towel covering her began to slacken, forcing her to tightly hug her left arm against her chest to hold the damp towel up, and in turn preserve what little modesty the meager article of impromptu clothing afforded her.

"Ah-Ah-Ah..." Vicki responded in a sly, almost sultry tone, continuing to grip and tug at the back of her best friend's towel.

"H-Hey! I _know_ you're a perv, but haven't you seen _enough_ of me today?" The blue-eyed girl questioned in a joking tone, taking slow, careful steps backward as she desperately held up her towel to keep the redhead from completely yanking it off her. "Hehehe! Wh-What's the big idea, anyway?" She giggled out, nervously glancing over her shoulder at Vicki again, whose eyes remained focused on the blonde's upper back, right around where she was gripping her towel.

"Well~… I think _now_ would be a good time to fill you in on the next part of my 'little plan', as you call it." Vicki tugged a bit harder on her friend's towel, pulling it away enough to be able to peek into the newly created opening and all the way down to the older girl's lower back.

"Er..." Heather shivered as she felt a cool breeze rush down her somewhat exposed back, causing goosebumps to appear on her bare, slightly damp skin. "N-not that I don't want to hear it, but… Can't it wait until I'm… A little less naked?"

"Nah, I think _now's_ the perfect time, actually..." The redhead pulled Heather a bit closer, then carefully tightened her towel back around her, tucking part of it in such a way to ensure it would stay in place, rather than nearly slip off like before.

"Okay…?" The blonde responded quizzically, turning around to face Vicki as she felt her friend release her, her arm at last dropping back down to her side, now that she no longer had to hold up her towel. "But _why_ exactly do you need to tell me this while I'm wearing _just_ a towel?"

"Because if this plan is going to work, I _need_ you in 'just a towel', obviously." Vicki smirked evilly, a little glint of playfulness in her eyes. "Not to mention, my bras don't fit you anyway."

Heather quirked an eyebrow up at her friend, her lips forming a confused frown. "Explain." She at last found her voice, deadpanning at the redhead and again crossing her arms over her chest, while shooting Vicki a flat look.

"Well I dunno if you've noticed, but your boobs are bigger than mine-"

"I mean _why_ you need me in a towel, Smartass!" The towel-clad blonde whispered out harshly, her cheeks pinkening in embarrassment.

"Oh! That. That part's simple. If we're gonna get Timmy to realize he's making a mistake dating that little Princess, we need him to see that there are other, prettier girls out there-"

"Stop." The blonde interrupted, putting her hand up, palm facing forward; and by now feeling like her whole body was blushing. "You brought me over here to… What, titillate Timmy? Is _that_ what this whole day is _really_ about?" Heather questioned in an almost disbelieving tone.

"No!" Vicki answered quickly and confidently, only to soon glance away in an evasive manner. "Not… _Entirely_..." Vicki tapped her index fingers together, actually looking somewhat unsure for the first time in a _long_ time. "I mean, I _did_ promise you and the Twerp pizza and video games, so…?" She looked up at her friend again, smiling in a way that made her look like a dog that had just chewed up the sofa, and was now asking her owner for forgiveness. In short, Vicki's attempt at damage control.

"This-… This is-" The blonde paused, taking a moment to run her hand through her hair as she tried to wrap her head around Vicki's 'plan'. "I mean- Y-You _do_ know there are easier ways than this, right? Why not just… Y'know… Show Timmy some… Er… Porn?" Her voice slowly increased in pitch as she spoke, though the last word came out as a whisper. "A-And besides, what makes you think I'd even be _okay_ with this idea in the first place?! If it weren't for you washing my clothes, how would this idea possibly..." Heather fell silent, a look of realization coming over her as her brain started to fit the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that was Vicki's plan, together. "Oh… You… You really suck, you know that?"

Vicki smiled cheekily, lightly covering her mouth with her fingers as she quietly giggled to herself, her own cheeks bearing the slightest hint of a blush.

"I… I honestly don't know if I should be more pissed at you, or impressed at all the forethought that must've gone into this… Trixie going off doing her own thing, you suggesting I have to work so she wouldn't get suspicious about the three of us hanging out, insisting that I take a shower here, instead of at my house; and then going so far as to sneak my clothes out of the bathroom and wash them while I was in the tub to ensure I'd be stuck in this towel..." Heather brought her right hand up to cup her chin in thought, her right arm supported by her left. "Yeah, it's… Actually pretty impressive."

"Well, I try." Vicki responded with a smile and swept her arm out in front of her while bowing dramatically. "Now that _that's_ out of the way, how about-Hey! Where are you going?!" The redhead exclaimed as Heather again spun around on her heel and made for her room, once more allowing Vicki to easily reach out and hook her fingers into the blonde's towel.

"Ah-Heheh! Would you quit doing that?" The older of the two girls chuckled, grabbing her towel out of reflex to keep it from falling. "I'm starting to think you really _do_ wanna catch another glimpse of me in my birthday suit!" Her voice echoed down the hall, almost certainly ensuring that Timmy would hear it in the living room.

"What I _want_ is for you to help me like you said you would-Unf!" The redhead roughly yanked Heather towards her, causing the blue-eyed girl's back to collide with Vicki's front.

"And _what's_ our mission objective, again? Giving Timmy an erection?" The blonde hung her head back, letting it gently come to rest on her friend's shoulder as she stared up at her. "Or rather, from how it _sounds_ , that's what you want _me_ to do, _you_ have still yet to explain your part in all this… Come to think of it-" The twenty-one year old lunged forward, breaking her friend's grip on her towel as she spun around to face her again. "Why aren't _you_ the one in the towel, anyway? It is _your_ plan, isn't it?"

"Because _I'm_ the one with the car. If the plan was for _me_ to be in the towel, I would've had to get up, go to your house, wait for you to shower and get dressed, go to Timmy's house, wait for _him_ to shower and get dressed, then drive you both over here, _finally_ take my shower, then _hope_ you're willing to go along with my plan after that." Vicki tipped over to lean against the wall as she finished, her hands clasped together in front of her, just below the waistline of her jeans. "Besides, you're… Better suited for the… Role, I need you to play."

"Better suited? In what way, exactly?" The blonde asked in a quizzical tone, her once-damp skin by now having dried, though it was now a bit cool to the touch from the water evaporating off of her.

"You _know…_ Better… _Endowed_?" Vicki quirked an eyebrow up at Heather, the pink blush on her cheeks darkening by just a tiny bit. "Curvier, Heather. Especially in the chest department."

"Again with my boobs… Jeez, V. Are they _really_ that interesting to you?" The blue-eyed girl blushed, her lips curling up into a lopsided smile. She was actually a bit flattered by all the attention her friend evidently payed her without her knowledge, as she'd never really considered herself to be anything more than average in terms of looks, but if she caught her own best friend's eye, she had to be doing _something_ right, she figured. _"Then again, Vicki_ is _a perv… And I've never really asked her about her… 'Preferences'..."_ Heather mused to herself, only to be snapped form her reverie by the sound of the redhead clearing her throat somewhat impatiently.

"Just sittin' here, waiting on you..." Vicki quipped offhandedly, taking a moment to look at her nails, though the action was more for effect than anything else.

"Ah… L-Look, I don't… Really know if I'm comfortable with this, Vicki… I dunno if I've ever even… No, I've _definitely_ never thought of Timmy… L-Like _that_..." The blonde muttered out sheepishly, an uncomfortable wave of heat washing over her body that made her cool skin suddenly feel oppressively warm. Not helping matters was that Vicki had _still_ yet to tell her just _what_ exactly her role was here. Was she just supposed to serve as some sort of eye candy while she waited for her clothes to be washed and dried? Did Vicki expect her to _flirt_ with Timmy in just a towel? ...Did she want her to take it even further than that?

"Who said anything like that? I'm not asking you to go down there, unzip his fly, and give him a blow-" The redhead caught herself, noticing how red her best friend's face had become. "Er… Look, I'm not asking you to do anything _crazy_ , just… Oh!" Vicki snapped her fingers as an idea sprang to mind. "Remember when the two of us were in acting class in high school?"

"...Yeah..." The blonde replied hesitantly, her tone cautious and unsure.

"Okay, so since you're already on pretty good terms with the Twerp, you can be friendly _and_ a little flirty, right?"

"Vicki- I'm not… I mean, I _guess_ I can… Not like I've got a lot of experience with flirting, really. Isn't this… More up your alley, anyway? Hell, you've _had_ a boyfriend, unlike me! That's just more evidence that _you_ should be in the towel, not me!" Heather pouted at her red-haired friend, pointing her index finger at her accusingly.

"But _I_ might come on a little too strong for him. He's always been a bit nervous around me for… For almost for _ever_! We both know he's more comfortable around you, and… Ehehe, I mean, you _are_ already in a towel..." Vicki shot the blonde a clever little grin, further annoying her by emphasizing how much of a chess master she clearly _thought_ she was.

"Mngh..." Heather grumbled to herself, rolling her eyes and casting her gaze up at the ceiling. "If I agree to this-N-Not saying I will!" The twenty-one year old added in hastily, earning her a silent chuckle from her friend. " _If_ I do… For one, I'm doing this for Timmy, and only for Timmy, because I _do_ think he deserves better than Trixie, or someone who's just going to use him." She wrapped her arms a bit tighter around herself, feeling a combination of cold due to her state of undress, and discomfort with the idea of being flirty with someone she practically saw as family. _"_ Really _gonna have to push those thoughts out of my head if this is gonna be convincing..."_ "Two-" She began, earning her an inquisitive look from the redhead. "You're gonna owe me for… _This_ , big time, got it? I'm talking dinner for a week, movies, if I see something at the mall that I want, you're buying it for me, no fuss."

"Jeez, anything _else_ you want?" Vicki questioned, acting _far_ more incredulous than she really was, as in truth, she already felt confident that Heather was on board. The girl _really_ hated breaking promises, or not delivering on her word. "Buy you flowers? Take you out on a date? Roll in the hay…?" The redhead joked in a sultry tone, her lips curling up into a wide, flirty smile.

"Pfft, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Heather teased right back, shaking her head at her perverted best friend.

"Maybe." The pink-eyed girl responded in a noncommittal tone and shrugged.

"Which is exactly why it's _not_ on the table. I can't go rewarding you for bad behavior, now can I?" The blonde settled her hands on her hips, balling them into fists in an attempt to appear stern, though her state of undress wasn't doing her any favors. "Now, do we have a deal?" Heather's confident smile faltered ever so slightly as she stared at the redhead, who appeared just as confident, if not more so. _"Shit, maybe I should back out of this… Things are gonna be_ super _-awkward_ _between me and Timmy if I do this, and I… Oh… This is gonna be so weird-"_

"Deal!" Vicki exclaimed with a nod, her right hand darting out to grab Heather's before the blonde could so much as react, her train of thought being cut off as her friend shook her hand up and down excitedly. "Knew I could count on you, Besty!"

"Vicki, wait. Maybe this isn't such a- No, this is _definitely_ a bad-"

"Uh, hey, I ordered the… Pizzas?" Timmy interjected rather suddenly, causing both girls to jump in surprise and freeze up, Vicki's hand still tightly gripping Heather's as she glanced behind her and over her shoulder, while the blonde peeked around Vicki, her mouth twisted into a little surprised zigzag. The brunet, in turn, currently peeked around the corner at the top of the stairs, his bright blue eyes darting between his babysitter and the towel-clad Heather. "So… Um… Whenever you two are done with… Whatever you're talking about up here, er… Come down and play Blood Fighter already. ...Might-Uh… Might wanna get dressed too, Heather..." The fifteen year old's cheeks practically glowed a bright pink, before he disappeared back out of sight, his footsteps slow and quiet on the stairs before fading out entirely.

"S-See? Even _he_ thinks I should go and get dressed..." The blonde remarked nervously, her cheeks nearly the same shade of pink that Timmy's had been.

"But _you_ already agreed to help me, not gonna go back on your word _now_ , are you?" Vicki stared into her friend's eyes, once more giving the girl that puppy-dog stare she'd almost certainly adopted from Timmy's repertoire of tricks.

"Argh..." The blue-eyed girl growled out, then finally hung her head and sighed in resignation. "A-Alright, tell me… _Exactly_ what you want me to do..."


	7. Chapter 7

Heather slowly stepped down the stairs, _still_ clad in only a damp towel; her cheeks nearly beet-red in color as she took deep, shaky breaths, the action doing little to help her regain her composure, nor did it serve to calm her now racing heart. "I can't believe I agreed to this..." She mumbled to herself, still not entirely sure she could go along with Vicki's 'plan'.

Her ears perked upon hearing the voice of the announcer of Timmy's favorite fighting game, causing her to momentarily stop and listen as she reached the midpoint of the stairs. "Argh… Dammit. No way, I can't do this. If Vicki's really so dead-set on breaking Timmy and Trixie up… There's gotta be a better way than this!" The blonde muttered to herself, then spun around to head back upstairs. "Maybe-"

"Hey! Are you coming down, or what?" Timmy called up, noticing the pair of bare feet just barely in view on the stairs as he looked up from the TV.

"Holy fu-!" Heather very nearly jumped at the teen's voice, her left arm darting out to grasp the railing to keep herself from falling forward onto the stairs, while her right instinctively wrapped itself around her front to keep her towel in place.

"Heather?" The fifteen year old asked in a curious tone of voice, having assumed at first that the feet on the stairs were those of his babysitter. "Is that you?"

"Er… Y-Yeah, just-Uhm..." The twenty-one year old gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance, partially at how nervous she sounded to her own ears, and partially because of how terrible her luck seemed to be today. _"Crap. No getting out of this_ now _..."_ She mused to herself, forcing out a smile as she righted herself on the stairs, turned back around, and descended them into the living room, giving the brunet a quick, awkward wave as she rounded the end of the railing at the base of the stairs. "Ehehe… Ah… S-Sup?"

"Not much, just train-" Timmy began, only to fall silent as his gaze left the TV and focused on Heather, his cheeks instantly flushing a bright pink as he once again laid eyes on the older girl, _again_ in little more than a bath towel. "Er..." The fifteen year old quickly averted his eyes, looking instead at the doorway leading into the kitchen. "N-Not to… Um… Aren't you… A little cold? Especially in just… _That_?"

"Yeah, heheh… Funny story, Vicki took the liberty to wash my clothes while I was showering, and since she doesn't have anything for me to wear that's _clean…_ Well, y'know." Heather gestured at the towel wrapped around her, only to notice that, due to it absorbing most of the water on her skin when she used it to dry off, the material now clung to her rather tightly, advertising her curves quite well; even outlining the divot of her belly button. "S-So!" She spoke up nervously, staving off the powerful urge to self-consciously cover herself. "Hope th-this isn't… Y'know, too distracting…?" She lightly scratched at her nose with her index finger as she finished, feeling another uncomfortable wave of heat wash over her. _"_ _Fuck it, for having me act like an idiot like this… She's buying me dinner for_ two _weeks!"_

"Ah… N-No, it's… I mean, there's not really… Anything that can be done about it, right?" Timmy shrugged nervously, his gaze slowly drifting back over to Heather, then slowly tracing its way up her body, starting at her slender, light-skinned legs(though still not quite as light as Vicki's, which were closer to pale, and almost cream-colored), followed by her thighs and hips, which filled out a bit more as his gaze traveled upward, the towel she wore revealing that the blonde actually had an ample(if well-formed) rear-end. Moving up a bit further, the teen's gaze briefly stopped at the girl's navel, again betrayed by her towel in the way of a slight divot, and from there, his eyes slowly traced the subdued contours of her stomach, eventually settling on her breasts, and noticing that each were topped with three little… _Things_ that poked out against the towel the blonde wore, the aforementioned 'pokey bits' forming a small, horizontal line across each breast, right beneath Heather's towel. The oddness of the sight caused his bright blue eyes to linger on the older girl's breasts, as at fifteen, he _knew_ that both boys and girls had nipples, obviously, and the middle, slightly larger bump on each breast _had_ to be those, but then, what on Earth were the two smaller ones on either side?

"Eh… Shrimp? Everything… Cool?" Heather spoke up, mostly just to break the awkward silence between herself and the brunet.

"Oh!" Timmy flinched, snapping out of his reverie upon hearing Heather's affectionate nickname for him. "Uh… Yeah, I don't think… N-Nah, it'll be fine, we're gonna be playing the game anyway, so… Yeah, you're not… Distracting, or anything..." Timmy attempted to speak in an off-handed manner as he returned his attention to the TV screen, though before he knew it, he was sneaking another glimpse of the scantily-clad blonde out of the corner of his right eye. 'Distracting' didn't even _begin_ to cover it.

" _Surprise surprise, he's nervous."_ Heather mentally deadpanned, easily picking up on the teen's anxious stutter and wandering gaze. _"Still, I suppose it's not_ that _much of a surprise, kid's hormones are probably going nuts at his age, and it's safe to say I'm a bit more… 'Developed' than Trixie…"_ The living room again fell silent as its two occupants tried their best to avoid making eye contact with each other, the only sound being that from the character select screen of the game Timmy was playing.

"I-Uh… Downloaded a few new characters, but… I haven't been able to unlock all of the ones you get for beating the story mode, so..." Timmy at last spoke up, hoping to end the awkward silence now pervading the living room. In truth, he hadn't felt this nervous around the blonde in… Years, actually. Not since he'd first met her, when Vicki brought him over to her house.

"Oh, really?" The twenty-one year old spoke up, eagerly jumping at the opportunity her and Timmy's shared hobby provided. "Well… You and I… Can probably get in a quick run before Vicki comes back down." The girl quietly sighed in relief, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. _"Alright, I can do this. Just… Just need to breathe, and do what Vicki said: 'act like it's just a normal day'..."_ The corners of Heather's mouth curled up into a confident grin as she stepped toward the couch. "Make some room, Shrimp. You just might learn a thing or two!"

Much like Heather, Timmy felt an air of calm and familiarity come over the living room, seemingly sweeping the odd feeling of nervousness away as he scooted over on the couch to give the blonde some room, a grin slowly growing across his face. "Guess I'd better do my best to keep up then, huh?" The brunet handed his controller off to Heather as she joined him on the couch, wasting no time in getting straight to her first fight…

 _Meanwhile…_

A small, bright pink-colored bird alighted gently on the branch of a tree in the upper-class neighborhood of Dimmsdale, the tree itself sitting in the backyard of a rather large, opulent mansion; the Tang residence. "Phew, finally found it." The small bird, speaking in the voice of Timmy's fairy godmother, Wanda; released a low sigh of relief and wiped at her brow with her wing. "Looks like Trixie isn't the type to live modestly..." Wanda hopped forward with a quick flap of her wings and glided over to one of the house's many second floor windows, then peered through the glass, catching sight of a large, jacuzzi-style bathtub, a rack of colorful bath towels, and a fancy toilet with a pull-style chain attached to a tank that sat far above and behind the user's head. "Hm… No telling how long it might take to find Trixie's room if I let myself in _here_..."

Flitting over to the next window gave Wanda the view of a master bedroom that nearly took up the same amount of space as the _entire_ second floor of Timmy's house, the bed itself sitting up against the wall that held one of the several windows she was peeking in through. Everything about the room seemed to advertise how wealthy the house's occupants were, from the long, Persian rug that stretched nearly from one side of the room to the other, to the polished, hardwood floors the rug covered, to the highly decorative, gold-handled dressers and wardrobes that sat against the room's side walls, and even the bed itself, big enough for a king, queen, and several of their children; was crafted from a dark-colored wood that matched the rest of the furniture, with elegant designs carved into the bedposts. "Must be her parents' room." Wanda mused to herself as she hopped from window to window, just to make sure she was correct in her assumption. "I didn't see a car in the driveway though… Wonder if they're even home?" Taking a chance, the avian-formed fairy produced her wand and gave it a quick wave, poofing herself from the outside of the window to the inside, then waved it once more, this time changing her form from a bird to a mouse. "Here's hoping the Tangs don't own a cat..."

Hopping off the windowsill, Wanda grasped the dark-red curtain hanging over it and scurried down to the floor, then paused and perked up her ears, listening intently for any sounds, specifically, she hoped, the voice of a teenage girl. "Alright, let's see here..." She closed her eyes and slowly adjusted her ears, moving them like tiny radar dishes.

The first sounds she heard were those of footsteps, but they sounded far and away from where she was, likely on the first floor, and too heavy to be those of a fifteen/sixteen year old girl. "Probably a butler or maid..." The footsteps she heard soon fell silent, only to be replaced by the distinct sound of a broom sweeping back and forth across a floor. "Long as they're downstairs, I should be able to look around up here without _too_ much trouble..." The small, pink mouse darted across the soft Persian rug and under the bedroom door, leaving her in roughly the middle of a long, expansive hallway, various end tables and small cupboards placed here and there against either side all the way down to the end of said hall on both sides, both rounding corners and leading deeper into the house, though due to where Wanda currently was, 'deeper' actually meant 'toward the front of the house'. "How can _anyone_ live in a place so _big_?" Wanda asked herself as she looked back and forth down either hallway, which seemed to stretch on for _miles_ compared to the hallway in Timmy's house, and _especially_ so to her, in her current, tiny form. "Good thing I chose to be a mouse..." She again closed her eyes and raised her large ears, the sensory organs twitching every few seconds as she listened for(what she assumed to be)Trixie's voice.

"So like, are you _really_ okay with letting me keep this stuff? Wouldn't you rather wear it for Timmy at least once?" A distinctly valley girl-sounding voice reverberated from down the hall to Wanda's left, both her ears subtly orienting themselves in that direction.

"Hm… That's odd. If this person is asking that, then _they_ can't be Trixie, obviously… But it _sounds_ like she might be _talking_ to Trixie…!" The pink-furred mouse's eyes shot wide open, her mouth forming the closest thing to a smirk a mouse could muster as she dashed off down the hall.

 _Back at the Valentine house…_

"So..." Timmy began, slowly glancing to his right at Heather, whose gaze remained locked on the TV screen, her tongue peeking out from between her lips and turned up toward the ceiling as she unleashed combo after combo on her opponent.

"Mm?" The older girl responded with a questioning hum, the sound nearly drowned out by that of her frantic button mashing and the clacking of her controller's joystick.

"Other than-Uh… Throwing your clothes into the wash without you asking her to, has Vicki been… I dunno, acting a little strange lately, in your opinion?" The brunet recalled the blonde's words from the day before, and allowed her to finish her match before continuing.

"Vicki?" Heather relaxed a bit, setting the controller down as she reached the game's results screen. "Eh… Well, she _was_ a bit-" She cut herself off, thinking better of telling Timmy about her piercings, and the redhead's rather _forward_ interest in them. "...She seemed excited about today, that's all."

"Yeah, that's… One way to put it..." The teen hung his head slightly, glancing down at his lap in a poor attempt to hide his brightly blushing cheeks. "Something tells me she wasn't quite as 'excited' around you as she was me, though..." Timmy brought his right hand up, index finger extended, and gently scratched at his nose; a nervous habit he'd never quite been able to fully break.

"Oh?" _"You might be surprised, Shrimp."_ Heather thought to herself, again recalling her 'encounter' with their mutual friend in her bedroom that morning. "Dare I ask you to elaborate?" She crossed her legs, one over the other; and propped her head up in her hand, elbow settled on her knee, her body oriented slightly toward the brunet.

"Er… So, um…" Timmy began in a low tone, his cheeks still bearing a more than obvious blush. "After she dropped you off here, she sent me a text, telling me she was on her way, so I went ahead and took a shower to get ready, then headed back to my room to get dressed, and-" The fifteen year old flinched as he heard the ceiling above him creak, his gaze quickly darting up at the source of the noise.

"Probably just Tootie or Vicki walking around." Heather waved the noise off dismissively, eager to hear the rest of the teen's story. "So…? You went back to your room…?"

"Ah… R-Right..." The blue-eyed boy nervously glanced over at the stairs for a moment, then turned his attention back to the towel-clad blonde. "I guess… While I was showering, Vicki decided to 'check in' on me while I was in there, and after that, she let herself into my room and waited for me to finish..."

"Tch, she can be _such_ a perv sometimes…" The blonde scoffed, somewhat amused by Vicki's relatively childish antics, and shook her head back and forth. "But eh, that's not really a big deal, is it? I mean, she's known you for almost eight years now, I'm honestly more surprised she hasn't walked in on you in the bath or shower before now."

"N-No, I guess it's… Not _really_ a big deal, but… Once I came back into my room, she was… I-I dunno, acting… _Different_." The fifteen year old stammered out, the strange interaction with the older girl still fresh in his mind. At first, it had merely been a bit odd, as while he had grown used to the redhead being fairly overprotective of him, she didn't _normally_ go so far as to show real concern for him, even when they were in private. Checking his temperature had been the first red flag for the teen that something was off, but once her apparent 'concern' turned into outright flirting and teasing, he _knew_ something was seriously up with his babysitter.

"Hmph..." Heather blew a puff of air up into her bangs, which barely moved due to still being relatively damp. "You're not really telling me much, being cryptic and all..." After a moment of thought, the girl perked up, her eyes widening ever so slightly. "She's not… She's treating you… _Alright_ , right? If she's treating you like crap again, I'll give her more than just an earful this time-"

"No! Er... No, it's not anything like that, I swear." Timmy quickly spoke up, raising both hands, palms-up so the blonde would let him explain. "It's… Ah… How can I…? It's more like… The opposite, actually." The fifteen year old felt his cheeks heat up again, Vicki's 'offer' from earlier jumping to the forefront of his thoughts.

"The opposite?" The twenty-one year old parroted back, her head tilted ever so slightly in confusion. "So she's… Being nice to you?" Heather questioned in bemusement, a hint of a smile playing at her lips.

"Sh-She _is_ , but… I dunno how serious she-… Wh-When she caught me in my room, in just a towel, I mean, she was… Being like, y'know… Flirty…?" The brunet quirked an eyebrow up at Heather, shooting her a bemused frown. "And I mean… I know she likes to tease me now and then, but I always figured that… That was all it was: teasing."

"Okay…?" The blonde replied in a quizzical tone, straightening up a little in her seat as she finally noticed that Timmy was _visibly_ nervous now, even without his stammering and the short, halting way he was speaking; she could tell simply by a certain… Look, in his eyes. "So, what? You think that maybe there's more to it than her just messing around?"

"I… Maybe? I don't really know, to be honest..." The teen hung his head, feeling both confused _and_ frustrated by his babysitter's recent actions.

"Hm..." Heather lightly rubbed her chin in thought, now _seriously_ beginning to consider how her best friend had been acting as of late. Vicki had never been the type to adhere to the idea of the people she was close to having 'personal bubbles', something she'd been all too happy to remind Heather of when they were in her bedroom that morning, and the redhead had pretty much _insisted_ on seeing(and _flicking_!) her piercings. Had it been literally _anyone_ else, she'd have more than likely given them a beating just for sneaking into her room, never mind looking at her breasts.

But, of course, Vicki was her best friend, and had been for several years now; they were probably closer than some real-life siblings and shared much of everything with each other(the blonde's pierced nipples notwithstanding), so of course she tended to play off the girl's teasing(and yes, even the rare flirty comment) as a sort of in-joke between them, one that extended to Timmy once he and Vicki managed to bury the hatchet.

Now; however, her curiosity was piqued. She _knew_ what her role in the redhead's plan was this afternoon, and though she wasn't _entirely_ comfortable with it(hence why she'd been quite eager to let it fall by the wayside while she and Timmy played video games), she'd agreed to it, knowing that, for one, she was being compensated _very_ well by the pink-eyed girl, and two, she was helping Timmy out of what at least _seemed_ to be a one-sided relationship. Yet she had to wonder: how truthful had Vicki been with her? The redhead had told her they were doing this, essentially, for Timmy's own good, but was that all of the story, really? What if Timmy was right? What if there _was_ more to Vicki's flirting than just getting a reaction, or 'messing around'?

" _Could she…?"_ Heather wondered to herself, taking a quick moment to look the teen she shared the couch with up and down as his own attention was focused on his lap again. "Just so we're clear… What about today seemed different than… I mean, you and I both know she's been kinda-sorta flirty before, so what… What about today was… Different?" The blonde again parroted the word the fifteen year old had used. She wasn't about to jump to any conclusions without getting _all_ the facts, and it was obvious to her that Timmy wasn't telling her _everything_.

At this, Timmy looked up, his own bright blue eyes meeting Heather's similarly-colored orbs as his cheeks took on a decidedly scarlet hue. "She..." He trailed off, gaze slowly drifting over toward the stairs and fixating on them for a moment.

After a few more seconds, the brunet made eye contact with her again, and scooted a bit closer, while at the same time gesturing for Heather to come a bit closer herself, which she obliged by sidling up next to him on the couch and brushing a few locks of hair away from her left ear. "What…?"

Timmy leaned in, his proximity to the girl filling his nostrils with the familiar fruity scent of Tootie's shampoo as he began to whisper into her ear. "She… She pretty much asked me if… If I wanted to-" Before he could finish, Timmy heard a creak at the top of the stairs, followed by the rapid footfalls on the staircase. Footfalls of someone with bare feet.

"Ugh, sorry I took so long!" Vicki announced midway through a facepalm as she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned toward the couch, her hand sweeping up into and running through her fiery red locks as she finished. "I figured I'd check in on Tootie real quick, but then our mom called on her phone, so she gave the phone to me, and I had to talk to _her_..." She rolled her eyes, acting more annoyed than she really was, before at last _really_ looking at the two people occupying her living room couch; Heather sitting all the way at one end, while Timmy occupied the opposite end. Neither made eye contact with her, and both looked somehow guilty, as if they'd done something wrong, prompting her to look back and forth at them in genuine confusion. "Eh… Did I miss something?"

"Ah… N-No, nothing." Timmy spoke up, his voice still bearing a slight nervous quality. "Heather was just… Unlocking the last couple characters in Blood Fighter while we waited for you to join us, right?" The brunet slowly relaxed as he looked over at the blonde girl, who in turn made eye contact with him as she turned her head, both realizing at roughly the same time how suspicious they probably looked to their red-haired friend.

"Yeah, just something to pass the time, wasn't sure how long you'd be up there, V." Heather corroborated the fifteen year old's story, her own voice significantly less nervous-sounding than his.

"Uh-huh…?" The redhead again looked back and forth between Heather and Timmy, before crossing her arms as her gaze settled on her best friend. "We're still _on_ for today, right?" Vicki quirked an eyebrow up at Heather, shooting her fellow twenty-one year old a sly little smirk.

" _Crap."_ The blonde hesitantly glanced over at Timmy, who briefly met her gaze, then shifted it to meet his babysitter's, a look of confusion etched across the teen's features. "Y-Yeah, of course..." A familiar warmth spread across the girl's cheeks before radiating out across the rest of her body in a brief wave of heat, making her feel just _slightly_ too warm in her own skin. "Just… Waiting on you, y'know?"

"Well then make some room!" Vicki exclaimed with a wide smile, stepping over to the couch as Heather scooted onto the middle cushion, putting her between Timmy and Vicki once the redhead took the cushion on her right. "Twerp. How long until the food gets here?"

"Uh… Should be another… Twenty minutes or so? They said forty when I called, so…" The brunet took a moment to check the time on Vicki's phone, before setting it down on the coffee table. "Yeah, about twenty minutes."

"More than enough time to school you both in this game, let's go!" The pink-eyed girl snatched up her controller, nodding at Timmy and Heather to do the same.

 _Meanwhile, back at Trixie's house…_

Wanda, having spent nearly half an hour searching the sprawling mansion she was in, at last came to a stop in front of a plain, white door; similar in style to nearly every other door in the hall, save for this one bearing the name 'Trixie' carved into it near the top in cursive, the name itself a light, feminine shade of pink. As if this wasn't enough, Wanda could easily hear the same voice she'd heard earlier on the other side of the door, and this time it was accompanied by a second voice, which, while having less of a valley-girl accent than the first one, was still clearly female.

Darting over to the bottom of the door, Wanda easily slipped under it and peeked her head out into another bedroom, this one a fair bit smaller than what she assumed was Trixie's parents' room, though it was still easily bigger than Timmy's. To her left, along the wall that held the door, were a pair of dressers, with a tall, decorative-looking wardrobe between them, while the far left wall held another door, one she assumed led to a closet. Next to that door was a desk with a three-sectioned vanity mirror, with the desk itself holding various lipsticks, lip glosses, makeup brushes, and a few bottles of brightly-colored perfume, among other cosmetic items, while in front of the desk sat a small, pink-cushioned chair. Adjacent to said desk was a tall, full-length mirror, and next to _that_ was yet _another_ dresser, this one taller than the first two, with a few pictures of Trixie and a blonde girl whom Wanda didn't quite recognize. The wall directly opposite the door held two windows, allowing a generous amount of natural light into the room, especially so since the curtains of both windows were drawn. Between the windows sat a low entertainment center, perched atop which was a wide, silver-colored flat-screen TV, and finally, beneath the right window was a bed; possibly either king or queen-size, that took up nearly a sixth of the area of the bedroom's floor. Nearly every piece of furniture was either pastel pink or lavender with white accents, save for the TV, and an odd stack of comic books peeking out from under the bed that looked like they'd be more at home in Timmy's room than a sixteen year old girl's.

All this, however; was secondary in Wanda's mind, as her gaze was already fixated on the two teenagers sharing the bed, both kneeling next to a pile of clothes nearly as tall as they were. Moving quickly, the fairy-turned-mouse scurried to her right, slipping under a trunk that was just _slightly_ raised off the room's pink carpet by four little legs, and maneuvered around underneath it until she was beneath its front side, giving her an ample view of the bed and its two occupants, while leaving Wanda mostly out of sight.

"So like, what are you planning on doing with this other stuff?" The blonde from the pictures, who Wanda assumed to be right around the same age as Trixie, absently tossed a pink, midriff-baring t-shirt onto a much smaller pile of clothes next to her, then began to sift through the larger, unsorted pile of clothes.

"What, the stuff you don't want?" Trixie, wearing little more than a pair of purplish boy shorts-style panties and a light pink t-shirt, leaned back, planting her palms on her bed and propping herself up on her arms. "I dunno, guess I'll hang on to some of the newer stuff for now..." She leaned forward again as one of the shirts in the pile caught her eye, prompting her to snatch it up and hold it up in front of herself. "Oh! How about this one, Veronica?"

The girl, wearing a simple pink bra and matching panties, and now known to Wanda as 'Veronica', looked the bright green, somewhat frilly, ruffled tank-top up and down, then shook her head with a low giggle, her long blonde hair, normally done up in a ponytail, swaying from side to side. "I don't think green is really my color… Not really into the ruffled look, either."

"No?" The dark-haired girl held the shirt a few inches away from herself to get a better look at it, one eyebrow raised in a mildly scrutinizing manner. "I think it's kinda cute… But… Huh, I don't remember picking this one out, actually. Must've been Timmy." She stared at the shirt for a few more seconds, a frown beginning to form on her face as the shirt's color brought back memories of a _certain_ redhead, her boyfriend's 'babysitter'. "Tch, you're right, I don't think green's _my_ color, either..." Trixie remarked disgustedly, tossing the shirt onto her bedroom floor.

"Uh… Okay…?" The blonde frowned in confusion, her gaze shifting back and forth between her best friend and the discarded shirt a couple times. "I thought you said it was cute?"

"Changed my mind." Trixie responded curtly, folding her arms across her chest in annoyance. "That… _Woman_ who babysits Timmy, Valerie or… Some name beginning with a 'V'. Anyway, she usually wears a shirt that's that _exact_ shade of green, and… She's just rude and annoying, that's all."

"Could it be 'Vicki'?" Veronica queried, remembering the times she'd overheard Timmy talking with his friends about their babysitter back in middle school.

"Mm! Yeah, that's her name; Vicki!" Trixie snapped her fingers. "Why, do you know her?"

"Not really, no. But I remember overhearing Timmy talking to that girl, Tootie. The one with glasses, black hair done up in pigtails? She's Vicki's sister, apparently. I know Timmy and his friends used to claim she was evil for a while, but a couple years back, Timmy all of a sudden stopped talking about her… I figured it was because he was older and didn't like, _need_ a babysitter anymore, but… You're saying she _is_ still his babysitter? The sixteen year old questioned bemusedly, wondering why someone like Timmy, who was now fifteen, even _needed_ a babysitter.

"S'what I heard. Both from her _and_ Timmy. She mostly just drives us around to the mall and stuff, but I guess his parents pay her to keep an eye on the house while they're gone. And since she'd been babysitting him since he was… I think eight, maybe? They just decided to keep paying her, maybe make sure Timmy doesn't get into trouble, I dunno..." Trixie shrugged, feeling mostly indifferent to _why_ Vicki was babysitting Timmy. All that really concerned her was the redhead's clear and obvious contempt for her yesterday; _that_ had seemingly come out of nowhere, and Vicki's words still stung the girl a bit, seeing as how they weren't-in her eyes-true.

"Huh, weird." Veronica held her chin in thought. "Never really thought of Timmy as the type to need supervision… I just can't imagine him throwing, like, a crazy party or something. That seems more like that blond friend of his' style… Hm." The girl shrugged as she finished, only to immediately open her mouth and begin a different line of questioning. "But back to Vicki, did something happen between you two? Why's she 'rude and annoying'?" Veronica repeated her friend's words, raising her hands to make air quotes.

"She just… _Is_." Trixie scowled, Vicki's insinuation from the day before that she was just using Timmy now fresh in her mind. Upon feeling that she probably owed her own best friend an explanation, she continued. "Okay, so you obviously know that I was out with Timmy at the mall yesterday, and after we got done shopping, we headed back to the food court to find Vicki so she could drive us home."

"Right, it's where all this stuff came from." Veronica nodded at the large pile of clothes next to them on the bed.

"Well when we got there, the two of them, along with this other girl who's Vicki's friend, start talking about their plans today, since I already mentioned to Timmy that I was gonna hang out with you. At some point, Vicki pinched Timmy's cheek, and said something about it 'giving _her_ -as in, me-a chance to kiss it and make it better'." The dark-haired girl's cheeks flushed a slight pink as she continued. "And, I mean, Timmy and I _are_ together, but not… Like _that_ , not really, I… 'Cause… You know… It's- It's complicated. I didn't really _want_ to kiss him in the middle of the mall, even on the cheek; someone might've saw and… And you know how quick rumors start and then snowball out of proportion..."

"Trixie. I get it." Veronica raised her hand up in front of her, bidding that she continue, rather than justify herself. _"Not saying I wouldn't have done things a_ little _differently, of course..."_ The blonde thought to herself, still harboring a mild attraction to the brunet, even after three years of Trixie 'dating' him. "We were talking about whatever it was that Vicki did to annoy you?"

"Oh! Right. Sorry, guess the stuff she said bothered me more than I thought it did… Um… So anyway, when I hesitated, she started suggesting that a kiss on the cheek wasn't really a big deal, especially since we've been together for almost three years now, and _then_ she starts saying things like, how I'm just 'leading Timmy on' and 'taking advantage of his generosity'..." The sixteen year old trailed off, her face a bit red and pouty as the mere act of repeating what Vicki had said seemed to sting and frustrate her even more. "Phew..." Trixie let out a long, slow breath to calm herself, then brought her hand up to gently rub her forehead. "Thankfully, Timmy jumped to my defense, told her we weren't really big on public displays of affection, but… I dunno, she seemed like… Like she _knew_ it was more than that..."

"So… Wait. Have you and Timmy ever… Kissed?" Veronica blushed, feeling the slightest tinge of jealousy as she imagined her best friend and the boy she'd been crushing on for years now, kissing.

"Well… No, but… To be honest, I'm… Really not sure if I even like Timmy… That way. Don't get me wrong, he _is_ really sweet, and I… It's not like I don't appreciate all the stuff he gets me whenever we go out, but… I don't want to rush into something that I'm not sure of, that's all. Plus, there are still a _lot_ of people at lunch who line up to give me things nearly every day, and if I go ahead and commit to a relationship _now…_ Obviously I can kiss all that goodbye." Trixie stated matter-of-factly, seeing nothing wrong with her reasoning.

"Oh, okay." The blonde let out a small sigh of relief, but soon frowned as she considered the rest of what her best friend had said. While it was true that she, much like Trixie, was a 'material girl' at heart, she had to agree(to an extent, anyway) with this 'Vicki' person; Trixie wasn't being entirely genuine with Timmy, who clearly _did_ think they were seriously dating. And while she had felt relief upon hearing that Timmy and Trixie still hadn't kissed, another part of her felt equally bad that after nearly _three_ years, Timmy's relationship with Trixie had gone basically nowhere.

Still though, she didn't quite feel like it was her place to judge, especially since she was almost _positive_ agreeing with what Vicki said would lead to an argument. "I guess I can… Sort of see where you're coming from… But being with Timmy for this long, he must have a pretty big edge over other guys at school, right?"

"Yeah, of course. But Timmy's also the first guy I've really _considered_ to be boyfriend material, and I… I don't know why, but sometimes… It just feels like he's not quite the right fit, y'know?" Trixie's voice steadily dropped from her normal volume into a more hushed one, despite Veronica being the only person within earshot(as far as Trixie knew). "Agh… But who knows? My head's been all over the place since yesterday, after what 'Vicki' said. Could be I'm just stressing over nothing, but… I'm glad we got to hang out today, it's… Actually pretty nice to have someone to talk to about this stuff." She smiled appreciatively at Veronica as she finished, prompting the blonde to smile in return.

"Aw! Well what are friends for, right? I'm just happy I could help!" Veronica remarked happily, a slight, self-conscious blush slowly making itself known on her cheeks. "Speaking of though… Since _we're_ hanging out here today, who's Timmy with? Vicki?" Her smile began to fade, instead becoming a more neutral, bemused expression.

"Yeah, just her and Timmy today. Knowing them, they're probably just playing video games or something. That, or she's making him do chores, being his babysitter and all." Trixie giggled, figuring Vicki to be the type to equate 'hanging out' with 'doing chores'.

"And you're not… Worried? Really?" Veronica questioned uneasily, realizing this would be the perfect time for this 'Vicki', someone who clearly wasn't all that fond of Trixie, to try and mess with her and Timmy's relationship. _"I know_ I _would if I was in her shoes..."_

"Why would I be?" Trixie questioned in an incredulous, slightly amused tone. "Sure, he's known her for longer, but _we're_ pretty much dating, no way is he gonna listen to what she says." The girl waved her friend's concern off in a dismissive manner. "Besides, she's six years older than him, what's the worst that could happen?"

 _At Vicki's house…_

" _Oh my god."_ Timmy thought to himself as he stared down at his lap, his eyes wide and mouth ever so slightly agape. Laying across both of his legs was Heather, her right elbow propping her up as she pressed it against the couch cushion just next to the brunet's left thigh, while her left hand clumsily gripped his knee in an attempt to steady herself.

Truth be told, he barely even knew how she ended up in her current position, her thighs closed and pinched together to preserve some sense of modesty as she shot Vicki a look of surprise. From what Timmy could recall, the three of them were just playing Blood Fighter, when out of nowhere, Vicki gave Heather a rough, leftward shove with her shoulder, causing the blonde to tip over, twist onto her back as she tried to catch herself, and finally, land quite unceremoniously in Timmy's lap with a surprised 'Ack!', the bottom of her towel riding up somewhat due to how she landed, exposing _quite_ a bit more of her upper thighs than Timmy had expected to see that day.

At the same time, Heather's rough landing, coupled with her poor attempt to sit up, had caused the grip of her towel to slacken, the top of it slipping down _just_ enough to expose her left breast; the nipple(and its piercing) barely peeking out over the white fabric of the towel.

"H-Heather? Y-Your, um..." Timmy managed to stammer out, his cheeks turning a flushed, rosy shade of red as his eyes seemed to lock onto the blonde's somewhat dark-pink nipple of their own accord.

"Hey~..." Heather drawled out, quickly adopting a more flirty tone and persona as she slid to the right, her side pressing against Timmy's lower abdomen. "Little rough, don'tcha think?" _"We are_ so _going to Hell for this..."_ The girl thought to herself as she imagined what was to come.

"Hehehe…!" Vicki snickered evilly as she set her controller down on the coffee table and pulled her legs up onto the couch, then dropped down onto all fours and began crawling towards Heather and Timmy. "Was it?" The redhead questioned innocently as she moved between the blonde's legs and parted them, her vibrant, pink eyes drifting over to meet Timmy's. "What do you think, Timmy? Am I being too… _Rough_?" Her tone shifted from innocent to unquestionably sultry as she crawled on top of Heather and held herself up over the blonde, the fabric of her shorts gently brushing against her friend's bare inner thighs.

"Uh-… Um… No-Er… Ye-Yes…? I-I don't..." The brunet desperately tried to form a coherent response to no avail, as while his brain consciously tried to answer the redhead staring right into his soul, it _unconsciously_ was sending much needed blood away from itself, and _to…_ Somewhere a bit further south, much to the teen's immediate chagrin.

" _Oh jeez..."_ Heather mused to herself, trying not to giggle at Timmy's apparent loss for words. _"Does she_ really _need to torture him like this, too? He looks like he's about to explode!"_ She shifted slightly, noticing a rather _firm_ object pressing against the middle of her back that hadn't been there roughly a minute or so earlier, prompting her to blush as she realized just _what_ the 'object' was. _"...In more ways than one."_ At the same time, the blonde self-consciously closed her legs as much as Vicki's body being between them would allow, as were it not for her, Heather's nether regions would be _entirely_ on display. _"Yeah, not putting on at_ least _a pair of panties,_ that _was a smart move..."_

"What was that? You think I _am_?" Vicki again spoke in an innocent, almost flighty tone of voice, her gaze shifting over to meet Heather's. "I guess I'll have to think of some way to make it up to her, huh Twerp?" She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Timmy as she finished, a wide, evil smile on her face that reached nearly from ear to ear.

Despite feeling the _very_ conscious need to pinch himself to ensure he wasn't dreaming, Timmy couldn't bring himself to move, every nerve seemingly frozen and leaving him still as a statue. He could feel the heat of the blood rushing to his face, hear the sound of his heartbeat, which was deafening to his own ears, and feel the delicate weight of the two girls on top of him, but even then, he couldn't _believe_ what was happening.

And then before he knew it, Vicki took things a step further, her right hand sneaking up along Heather's left side, then cupping and lightly squeezing the girl's somewhat exposed breast as she dipped her head down low, gently butting her forehead against the blonde's.

"Nnf..." The blue-eyed girl let out a low moan at the redhead's touch, her blush darkening at her mouth's audible betrayal. _"Never should have told her I'm sensitive there..."_ Heather mentally kicked herself, barely noticing the girl on top of her lean in until she felt Vicki's soft lips on hers, prompting her to focus her eyes on Vicki's half-lidded ones.

It didn't start out as a kiss, with the redhead at first just gently letting her lips brush against Heather's, but before long, she closed the distance just a tiny bit more, giving the blonde a slow, lingering, feather-light peck, one that Heather, for the sake of this so-called 'plan', felt she needed to return, her eyelids slowly drooping closed so she appeared as convincing as possible.

" _Holy crap."_ Timmy silently gaped at the two girls, the color draining from his face as he absently brought his hand up to close his mouth. He again opened his mouth to speak, only to find his voice strangely absent, the only noise coming out being a small, confused squeak.

And then he heard quiet footfalls on the stairs, drawing his attention to a pair of slender, average-length legs clad in long, black stockings that disappeared under a short, gray, plaid skirt. The obviously female teenager, wearing a black vest over a white button-up school shirt, descended the rest of the way down the stairs and stepped around the railing, her purple tortoiseshell glasses and raven hair done up in twintails easily identifying her as Tootie, one of Timmy's best friends and Vicki's younger sister.

As she quietly padded across the living room toward the kitchen, her gaze remained fixated on her phone, a thin black wire running from it to the small, earbud headphones she was using.

The brunet watched her as she disappeared into the kitchen, then listened as he heard her open the door of the refrigerator, rummage around for a few seconds, then close it, and return to the living room, her lips wrapped around the straw of a grape juice box. "Ah-! T-Tootie!" Timmy called out desperately to the girl, his hand reaching out to her over the two amorous females in his lap.

The bespectacled girl came to a stop, turning her head to face Timmy, and shooting her fellow fifteen year old a flat, almost bored look that seemed to simply ask, 'What?'.

Timmy briefly looked down at Heather and Vicki, who were now again staring up at him with smirks that he found both intriguing and immensely unsettling, then back up at Tootie, who seemed entirely unfazed by the brunet's predicament. "H-Help…?"

At this, the raven-haired girl took a long, slow sip of her juice box, her bored-looking gaze lingering on the couch's three occupants for several seconds, before she turned and made for the stairs, casually making her way up them and out of sight.

"T-Tootie?!" The fifteen year old exclaimed in a tone heavy with betrayal, only for his gaze to fall yet _again_ on the two women occupying his lap.

"Somethin' the matter, Timmy?" Vicki once more spoke in that innocent, sugary-sweet tone, making a chill run up her charge's spine.

"Y-Yeah, something's… Come up, actually…!" Sucking in his stomach and wriggling about, the teen quickly worked his way out from under Heather and Vicki, then crawled across and off the couch on all fours, before rising to his feet and bringing his hands down in front of his crotch in a poor attempt to hide his arousal. _"This… This is just too_ strange _! What on Earth is going on with them today?!"_ Timmy darted over to the door and pulled it open, then very nearly sprinted outside, unintentionally slamming the door behind him.

"Ugh…!" Heather groaned loudly, letting her head hang back and come to rest on the couch cushion beneath her. "I _told_ you this plan was a bad idea..." The blonde giggled in spite of herself, finding Timmy's flustered reaction to be adorably hilarious. _"No wonder Vicki likes to mess with him as much as she does..."_ "And you kissed me! Where was that in the plan, again?"

"In the part I didn't tell you, obviously." Vicki stated matter-of-factly with a quick shrug of her shoulders. "Y'know, I couldn't help but notice that you didn't really seem to mind~..." The redhead sang out, still holding herself up over the blonde.

"Well… I was… Immersed in the role. You remember that rule from acting class." Heather glanced away evasively, finding she was blushing _much_ too often today. "Sure seemed to get a rise from Timmy though, I'll give you that..." She trailed off with a small smirk, only to turn back to Vicki with a slightly wider grin. "Since we're talking about it, exactly how much of that kiss was for _Timmy's_ benefit, anyway?"

"Eh… Like half of it." The redhead replied with a cheeky grin, before at last pushing herself up off her best friend. "Maybe~... Sixty-forty."

"Hah..." The significantly less-clothed of the two girls sighed dramatically as she shook her head back and forth, then fixed her towel to cover her exposed breast. "I knew you had the hots for me."

"Yup, saw those boobs and it was love at first sight." Vicki remarked dryly with a grin as she rolled her eyes.

"Ha-Ha." Heather deadpanned, honestly not sure if she should take her friend's response at face value; the girl could be _really_ hard to read. "So now what?" She sat up on the couch, smoothing out her towel so it covered her upper thighs again. "With the way he just reacted, and y'know, the fact that he was trying to hide his… You _know…_ I'm sure Timmy is headed back home-?" The blonde cut herself off, noticing that Vicki was counting down on her fingers.

"Three, two, one, and..."

As if on cue, the front doorknob slowly turned, and the door itself was steadily pushed open, at which point Timmy let himself back into the house and closed the door by leaning against it, his cheeks still bearing a significant dusting of pink.

At this, Vicki looked over her shoulder at Heather and shot the blonde a self-satisfied smirk, which the blonde responded to with a roll of her eyes.

"So, uh… After… Careful consideration, I think I'd rather stay." The teen looked up at his babysitter and her friend on the couch, both now shooting him _very_ knowing looks. "F-For the pizza, I mean!"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Wow, it's been a little while... Anyway, still around. Life's got a bad habit of tossing curve-balls my way as soon as I start to think things are going well. I still don't have everything on track, but eh, I'm getting there. Thanks to everyone who's been patient, I probably _really_ don't deserve it, but I truly am grateful.

* * *

"You think he's okay up there?" Vicki questioned in an off-handed tone, glancing to her right at Heather, the blonde's tongue again peeking out from between her lips and pointing toward the ceiling as she dialed combo after combo into her controller, while the redhead herself played a more defensive game, parrying her friend's character without ever bothering to deliver an attack of her own.

"I'm sure he's _fine_ , Vicki." Heather responded in a mildly forceful tone, growing annoyed with how effortlessly her best friend defended against her aggressive playstyle.

"Oh sure, me too. I'm just saying, if our little… _Demonstration_ got as much of a rise out of him as you say… You think he went up to the bathroom to… Blow off some steam?" The redhead cracked a grin as she finished.

" _No_ , I don't, Vicki." Heather shot Vicki a knowing look, her own lips forming a small smirk. "He probably just had to go to the bathroom, like he said… Rrgh!" She growled out, turning her attention back to the screen, and Vicki's character's _still_ pristine life bar. "You just _love_ to toy with me in this game, don't you?!"

"Nah, I toy with Timmy all the time in this too, no need to think you're getting special treatment." Vicki teased, parrying yet another rapid series of strikes from Heather's character. "I could always toy with you in _real life_ , if you'd prefer?" The twenty-one year old remarked flirtatiously, quirking an eyebrow up as she spoke, though it went unnoticed by the blonde.

"Ah good, here I was worrying that our friendship was starting to feel normal. Good thing I can always count on you to throw in the odd implicit remark about wanting to sleep with me now and again… Or y'know, just straight-up _kiss_ me." The towel-clad girl deadpanned as her and Vicki's match ended in a draw, then turned her head to shoot the girl a flat look.

"What, you're still on that? Remind me, _how_ many romance scenes in plays did we reenact in high school?" Vicki set her controller down, adopting a thoughtful expression as she leaned back and brought her right hand up to press her index finger against her chin.

"Well those were… Different." The blue-eyed girl looked away evasively as she pretended to cough into her left hand and clear her throat. "For one… I knew the kiss was coming; had time to mentally prepare."

"You _also_ had an audience of our entire acting class watching you lock lips with your _very_ attractive best friend." Vicki added in, gently settling her right hand in the middle of her chest as she fluttered her eyelashes at Heather. "Whereas _here_ , the only person who saw us was Timmy… Oh, and Tootie too… Crap, _that's_ gonna be an interesting conversation..." She rolled her eyes, knowing her younger sister would expect an explanation for the rather _compromising_ position she'd caught her and Heather in.

"Yeah, have fun with _that_." Heather slightly bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Back to what we were saying… Just… Gimme a heads-up if you're gonna suddenly fondle my boobs or kiss me-"

"So you're ready to kiss me back?" Vicki grinned cheekily, her pink eyes betraying a hint of playfulness.

"So it doesn't come as a shock and I'm _prepared_ , V. They didn't teach us much in the way of improv acting in school, _nor_ did they explain that your best friend might grope certain _sensitive_ areas." The blonde remarked in a serious tone of voice, the unintentional moan she'd let out when Vicki squeezed her left breast still fresh in her mind.

"Oh don't pretend that you didn't like it..." The redhead continued to grin, her eyes half-lidded knowingly. "Prepared or not, our little 'show' couldn't have gone more perfectly… Heehee! You and me, we're destined for Broadway!" Vicki joked, falling into a light fit of giggles.

"Heheh… I'll give you that it _was_ kinda fun when I was in the moment… And Timmy's reaction was _priceless_!" Heather admitted, giving in to her amusement and letting a few quiet chuckles escape her.

"Right? Poor kid made it all the way out the door before realizing what he might miss if he left!" Vicki rose to her feet as she spoke, then stepped out from between the coffee table and couch, earning her a quizzical stare from the blonde.

"What's up? Pizza here?"

"Hm? Oh, no. I was actually gonna go throw the laundry in the dryer, but..." The twenty-one year old paused to reach into her back pocket, then withdrew her wallet from it and tossed it to Heather. "Good thing you reminded me, in case they come while I'm down there."

"Wha-?" The towel-clad girl looked down at the black leather wallet in her hands, then back up at her red-haired friend. "I-I can't answer the door like this!"

"Why not? You answer the door in just a towel, you won't have to tip the delivery guy!" Vicki cast an evil smile over her shoulder as she made for the basement door and pulled it open, then headed down the stairs, leaving Heather alone in the living room.

"Ah, w-wait! Vicki-i-i!" The blonde reached out for her friend in much the same way Timmy had for Tootie, only to let her hand drop back down to her side as she heard Vicki's footsteps fade out of earshot. "Y-You'd better not take long down there!" She stammered out nervously, trying and failing to sound intimidating as she crossed her arms and pouted like a child who wasn't getting her way.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Bah!" Timmy lifted his head up from the bathroom sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror, his face dripping with the cold water he'd just splashed on it. "Nope, I'm definitely awake." He reached for one of the bath towels on the nearby shelf and dried his face off, then hung the damp towel up to dry. "So that was real… Heather and Vicki… Wow. Does Vicki… Maybe have a thing for Heather? They _do_ hang out a lot, but I never would have..." The brunet bowed his head and closed his eyes as he leaned over the sink, his brow furrowing as he contemplated what had just happened down in the living room. "Heather's never mentioned anything like _that_ happening between them, just the usual flirty stuff, and that's just Vicki being… Well, Vicki."

 _Poof!_

The familiar sound he'd come to associate with his godparents' magic caused Timmy's ears to perk up, his eyes snapping open as he stared down at the sink, now occupied by a green tube of toothpaste that hadn't been there a few moments before. "Hi, Timmy!" A pair of somewhat over-sized eyes appeared on the tube, followed by a distinctively human-like mouth and a small nose.

"Oh, hey Cosmo." The fifteen year old shot his fairy godfather a somewhat listless smile in greeting. The fairy's appearance didn't _really_ surprise him, as both Cosmo and Wanda had always been pretty good at finding him, even when they had(seemingly) nothing to go on.

"Why the long face, Timmy? ...And why are you hiding in Vicki's bathroom?" Cosmo disappeared and reappeared almost instantly, now in his true, fairy form.

"I-I'm not hiding!" Timmy exclaimed in a defensive tone, his previously cooled cheeks quickly warming thanks to another blush. "I just came up here to… Ugh, I don't know…"

"You don't know why you came up here?" The green-haired fairy crossed his arms thoughtfully, before shooting his godson a wide, reassuring smile. "Well, maybe I can help! Let's try word association! I'll say a word, and you say the first word that-"

"No, Cosmo, I-" The teen let out a low, frustrated huff, then craned his neck back and stared up at the ceiling. "I know _why_ I came up here, I just don't know… _What_ to do, or… What to think, really."

"About what? Is it Vicki? Heather? Tootie? Maybe… Vicki's mom?" Cosmo hovered closer to his godchild with each question, not noticing the steadily reddening blush on the teen's face. "As a married man, I can tell you with certainty: I do not understand women, but I can definitely try to help!"

"No- It… Cosmo, it's not about Tootie or her and Vicki's mom… Or, it _is_ partially about Tootie, but not like… Not something I feel for Tootie, just how she acted earlier..." Timmy ran his hand through his hair, wondering why the girl he _thought_ was his best friend was so keen to let Vicki and _her_ best friend make out in his lap when he was _clearly_ asking her for help. "E-Even _that_ isn't really important, I'm just… Confused… And it's mostly thanks to Vicki."

"Vicki's confusing you?" The green-haired fairy hovered back a few feet from his charge, his expression becoming more neutral than blissfully unaware. "In what way?"

"In a _lot_ of ways..." The fifteen year old muttered out, glancing away from his godfather in an evasive manner. "She's just been acting… Strange lately, and I can't figure out _why_! She's overprotective of me and hostile around Trixie, then, when the two of us are alone, she's flirty, and even offering to..." Timmy trailed off, his blush darkening to nearly beet-red. "A-And then just now, she pushed Heather into my lap and _kissed_ her, but the way she did it..." He looked up at Cosmo, hoping his fairy godfather would throw in his two cents on the matter. "It was like she _wanted_ to make sure I was watching, or something. She wanted to make sure that I saw them kiss, but… But I don't understand _why_..."

"Hm… Maybe she was trying to make it obvious that she's claiming Heather? I mean, I don't go around making out with _my_ friends so that everyone knows they're mine, but…?" Cosmo offered, taking a moment to look around the Valentine's bathroom, only to briefly jump in surprise as he looked at the mirror, his reflection startling him. "But anyway, I can see why them kissing in your lap might have made you feel uncomfortable-"

"N-No! That's just it, I wasn't- Okay, I _was_ a little uncomfortable, but something about it was… Awesome. Like, _really_ awesome! I can't explain it, but watching the two of them kiss was like… Just exciting! ...And a bit of a, y'know, turn-on." Timmy again broke eye contact with his godfather out of embarrassment; he rarely talked to either of his godparents about this sort of stuff. "It's weird, though, 'cause I'm dating Trixie, and Vicki knows it, but the two of them… I wonder if they do that even when I'm _not_ around…?"

"I wouldn't know, Timmy. Girls can be very mysterious creatures… Speaking of, have you seen Wanda?" Cosmo asked, finally remembering why he'd poofed himself in front of Timmy in the first place.

"Wanda? No… I thought she mentioned having to run some errands? She hasn't come back yet?" Timmy tilted his head bemusedly, finding it a bit odd for his godparents to be separated for _any_ length of time, really. They tended to be pretty inseparable.

"I guess not, I came to find you, thinking maybe she was already finished and wanted to check in on you." Cosmo explained, shrugging as he finished.

"Huh. Well, she must still be out then, meaning you should probably head back to the house and wait for her; I don't want to risk her showing up here too, and the two of you getting discovered." The brunet at last found the presence of mind to speak in a lowered, hushed tone of voice, remembering Tootie's room was just down the hall.

"Ooh! Good call-"

 _Knock-knock-knock!_

As if on cue, a sharp trio of knocks rapped against the bathroom door, making both Timmy and his fairy godfather flinch in alarm. The fifteen year old nodded for Cosmo to make himself scarce, and in an instant, the green-haired fairy vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"Er… O-Out in a sec!" Timmy again turned on the sink and washed his hands, then shut if off and rapidly shook them in the air as he padded over to the bathroom door and opened it. "Sorry, was just about to-" He trailed off, coming face-to-face with a familiar pair of glasses, behind which sat an equally familiar pair of violet eyes. "Ah-! Y-You!"

Tootie offered her fellow fifteen year old a happy, innocent smile and waved. "Sup-Wah?!" The girl was quickly cut off as Timmy grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her with an unintentionally loud slam. Following this, he moved in a bit closer, planting his left hand against the door, effectively blocking Tootie's escape route. "Y'know..." She began, briefly glancing at Timmy's arm before turning her attention to his face, and the intense gaze he was shooting her. "There was a time when I would've welcomed a scenario _just_ like this one with open arms..." The bespectacled girl blinked her eyes closed, crossing her arms as she shook her head back and forth. "Hmph. You've got a lot of nerve to _finally_ turn the tables on _me_ for change… Especially since I'm _finally_ over you..."

"Wha-! That's not…! I'm not t-turning the tables on anyone!" Timmy backed off, his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink as he realized what his best friend was implying. "I-… Wh-What was the big idea just now?! I c-could've used some help!" The teen struggled to keep his voice low, but the craziness of the past day or so was understandably taking its toll on the young brunet's mind.

"What? Down there?" Tootie chuckled, nodding in the direction of the living room. "...Somehow I got the feeling you didn't _really_ want my help getting out of that one. Call it a hunch."

"W-Well I _did_! Why else would I have asked you to help?! A-And what's going on with Heather and Vicki, anyway? Are they..." Timmy trailed off, gently scratching the back of his head as he looked around nervously. "Y'know… Dating, or something?"

"I'unno." Tootie shrugged, her smirk fading into a more neutral frown. "Your guess is as good as mine… Though I will say this, that certainly looked like more than your run of the mill 'friendly' kiss, that's for sure."

After a moment of thought the brunet let out a frustrated groan. "Agh… I just can't figure her out lately..." He brought his hands up to either side of his head to massage his temples, his tone and mildly pained expression at last earning him a look of genuine sympathy from the girl.

"Who? Vicki?" The raven-haired girl took a few steps forward, bending over a little to make eye contact with her ex-crush, eliciting the barest hint of a flutter in her heart. _"Jeez, it's true what they say about old feelings and habits..."_

"Who _else_? One minute we're getting along fine, the next, she's questioning Trixie about our relationship; one minute we're joking around, the next, she's acting all… _Flirty_ , and almost… Suggestive. I don't know what to think, and… And… I don't know what to feel, or how I _should_ feel, but..." Again, the fifteen year old trailed off, wondering if it was even a good idea to discuss all this with the redhead's younger sister. He knew under _most_ circumstances he could trust Tootie with anything, but this particular scenario almost certainly fell outside of 'most', considering it involved her own sister.

"Whoa, wait a sec, back up..." Tootie stood up straight again, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. "You think Vicki…?" She fell silent, realization dawning on her. _"Vicki… And Timmy? Oh, come on, Sis! What even_ is _her plan? Getting Timmy to cheat on Trixie with her so they'll break up?"_ The girl silently facepalmed, but soon found herself mentally backpedaling. _"Then again… It's not the_ worst _plan… I just..."_ She shook her head, her gaze refocusing on Timmy. "So-Uh… You think, maybe you… Like Vicki?"

"Or she likes _me_..." The brunet muttered out, the statement sounding almost alien to his ears. "But if she _does_ , why'd she kiss Heather? Does she like us both?" He frowned bemusedly at the girl.

"Eh… I think you might be overthinking that part." Tootie offered, her lips curling up into a shy smile as she blushed. "If she's flirting with you like you say… Kissing Heather _might've_ been… Something to-Ah… Get your engine revving?"

This statement only further confused the teen, his head tilting slightly as he continued to stare at the girl. "...You lost me. What?"

"W-Well, this is just me guessing, but…"

"Vicki-i-i! Get your ass up here already!" The two teens jumped, the sound of Heather's voice from downstairs catching them both off guard.

"Oh no, what _now_ …?" Timmy whined out in exasperation, prompting Tootie to sidestep out from in front of the door.

"Sounds like a lover's quarrel!" Tootie teased, her previous conversation with the brunet falling by the wayside. "You should go see; take pictures, if you can!"

"What about you?" The teen questioned, looking over his shoulder as he stepped out into the hall.

"I gotta pee, why do you think I knocked in the first place?" With that, the raven-haired girl gave him a friendly shove out of the bathroom doorway and shut the door in his face, leaving him alone in the hall.

Timmy covered his face with his hands and quietly fake-sobbed into them. "...Why are girls _so_ confusing?!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Phew..." Timmy let out a deep breath, remembering the old technique Tootie had once told him about to help calm down when he was stressed. "So what if Vicki makes me feel… Ugh, _really_ weird..." The teen pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that his encounter with the redhead's ancestor was at least partially to blame for the sudden feelings of nervousness that were coming over him around his babysitter. _"Not that the way Vicki's been acting is helping matters..."_ He cringed at the memory from that morning, when Vicki had surprised him in his bedroom. Her offer, if it actually _had_ been serious, felt _way_ too tempting.

The distinct sound of the front door closing and being locked shook him from his reverie, along with the faint smell of pizza wafting up from the living room.

"Right, pizza. Just need to focus on pizza, and playing video games with those two." Timmy quietly coached himself as he headed down the hall, stopping at the top of the stairs for a moment. "No need to think about Vicki maybe liking me, or Heather… Wearing… Just a towel..." _"And definitely don't think about the two of them kissing each other right in your lap."_ "Not helping!" He ran a hand through his hair, trying to dispel the _very_ distracting memory.

After another several seconds of hesitation, the teen slowly descended the stairs, realizing the living room was oddly quiet. Upon reaching the bottom of said stairs, he turned toward the couch to find Heather, unsurprisingly still in just the towel, her arms crossed over her chest, and face-red as a tomato-twisted into an annoyed grimace.

He briefly glanced around the living room, noticing their mutual friend was absent. "Vicki… Made you answer the door like that, didn't she?" The brunet spoke in a sympathetic tone, his eyes briefly ghosting over the blonde's body, and the towel that tightly clung to it.

"...My desire for pizza overtook my better judgment." Heather blinked her eyes closed as she spoke, her cheeks feeling like they were on fire.

"Well, pizza _does_ have that effect on people, I've noticed." Timmy joked playfully as he cut through the living room and into the kitchen to grab some plates.

"I smell pizza~!" The brunet heard Vicki announce as she stepped into the living room from the basement stairway, which was soon followed by the sound of the basement door closing.

"And the smell of it is all you're gonna get! Didn't you hear me calling you?" Heather remarked in an accusatory tone, eliciting a few quiet chuckles from Timmy as he fetched a few plates from the cupboard.

"Oh, were you calling me?" The redhead questioned innocently. "I must not have heard you, that dryer can get _pretty_ loud down there."

The blonde glared at her friend's nonchalant response, knowing just from Vicki's tone that she was pulling her leg. " _Right_ , and it just so happens that as soon as I'm done answering the door-in a _towel_ , no less-you come back up here."

"Total coincidence, I swear." Vicki shrugged indifferently. "Speaking of… How'd that go, hmm~?" A knowing smirk spread across her face as she finished, prompting Heather to clam up and fall against the back couch cushion with a thud.

"...He didn't ask for a tip." The towel-clad blonde admitted, tapping her right index finger against her left arm in annoyance. "Just gave me the food, took the amount that was due, and told me to have a wonderful day."

"Bet _he's_ gonna have a wonderful night, thinking about this sexy, blonde customer of his-"

"Would you stop?!" Heather shouted, her face again turning tomato-red. " _One_ pervert thinking about me every night is enough, _Vicki_."

"Hey! I think about… Other people..." The redhead shot back defensively. "Sometimes." Another shrug, the girl's voice dropping to barely a murmur. "Speaking of, where's the Twerp? Still in the bathroom?"

"Kitchen." She nodded behind her best friend at Timmy, who now stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, a small stack of plates, along with a tall glass cup, in hand.

"Er… G-Grabbed some plates." The fifteen year old spoke up, his voice cracking a little as his babysitter's gaze fell on him.

For a moment, the living room fell silent, Heather watching her best friend as she calmly walked over to Timmy, who in turn remained frozen in place. _"Oh man,_ now _what's she gonna do to him…?"_

Stopping almost directly in front of her charge, Vicki bent down, ever so slightly, and took one of the plates he offered, a smile gracing her lips. "Thanks!" With that, she spun around on her heel and made her way around the coffee table, before taking a seat on the far side of the couch, just to Heather's right. "Well? Gonna stand there all day, or can we pick up where we left off?"

Timmy gulped at the older girl's question, wondering just _what_ it implied…

 _At Trixie's house…_

"Hm..." Wanda, still hiding beneath the trunk in Trixie's room, hummed sadly, her concerns that Trixie might just be using Timmy seemingly confirmed. "Looks like Vicki _does_ have her reasons for disliking Trixie... Not that I'd say her heart's in quite the right place..." She chanced another look up at the two girls on the bed, the pile of clothing they'd been sifting through now significantly smaller. "And what should _I_ do? Timmy _seems_ happy with this… 'Arrangement', but Trixie said herself, she's not even sure if he's 'the right fit', whatever that means… And she's deceiving him; has been for almost _three_ years now, how long is this gonna go on for?" Letting out a tiny mouse huff, Wanda shook her head and decided. "I have to tell him. I doubt Timmy will like that I went behind his back and spied on Trixie, but the alternative is better, it'll at least spare him the pain of being with someone who doesn't care for him." The fairy-turned-mouse produced her wand, giving it a quick wave that made her disappear in a puff of smoke.

"So how come it's just the two of us today? Everyone else busy?" Veronica asked, satisfied with her haul of new clothes, now folded and placed in a neat pile at her side.

"No, I just felt like it'd been a while just the two of us have been able to hang out." Trixie scooted over to the edge of the bed and hopped out as she spoke, the clothes she'd decided to keep from her trip to the mall in hand, while the remaining clothes that neither girl wanted was left on the bed. "Not to mention, being around Tad and Chad can get irritating _fast_. Mind throwing that other stuff with that shirt I didn't like?" The dark-haired girl remarked over her shoulder as she began sorting her clothes into the various drawers of a dresser.

"Sure." Veronica nodded, gathering up the clothes neither girl wanted and quickly tossing it with the green tank-top that had earned Trixie's ire. "Er… Not to sound like a broken record or anything, but… Are you sure this is okay?"

"Am I sure what's okay?" Trixie questioned off-handedly, her back to her blonde friend as she stood in front of her dresser, her posture thoughtful as she looked over her now even more vast wardrobe of clothes.

"Letting me keep this stuff? Timmy _did_ get it for you, and… I mean, isn't he gonna be suspicious if he sees _me_ wearing the clothes you two got on your date?"

Picking up on the worried tone in her friend's voice, Trixie turned to face her, the dark-haired girl's expression serious as she settled her hands on her hips. "This _again_? Quit worrying, Veronica. I already told him that I let you have some of my stuff, for one. Two; it's my stuff anyway, I can do what I want with it, can't I? And three, you're my best friend, of course you can keep this stuff! Anything of mine you want, just ask!" She finished with a warm smile, making the slightest tinge of pink bloom across Veronica's cheeks and nose.

"Well… Alright, if you say so. Um… Thank you, Trixie." Veronica let her hands drop and settle in her lap, her best friend's kindness catching her more than a little off guard. True, the two girls _were_ fairly close, but that closeness only made the blonde more aware of how aloof and seemingly uncaring Trixie could be at times. Rarely did Trixie show much in the way of affection, or even thanks to the many boys who came to give her things at lunch, and most of the time, she simply took it for granted as a side effect of her being the richest, most popular girl at their school.

Which meant the attitude Trixie was currently showing Veronica was all the more bizarre, in her eyes, anyway. _"Or… Have I just not been paying attention?"_ The blonde thought to herself, realizing that every time it was just the two of them, _that_ was when Trixie seemed to be more conscious of her presence, definitely more friendly, and genuinely appreciative of her friendship, as she'd mentioned earlier. _"I wonder if she's like this with Timmy-"_

"Hey, uh...Veronica?" Trixie spoke up, her tone low and evasive, causing the blonde to snap back to reality, her blue eyes focusing on her. "I was… Just thinking..."

To Veronica's surprise, the normally confident Trixie appeared uncharacteristically reserved, her arms down, but bent behind her, hiding her hands from view as she refrained from making eye contact with her. "Y-Yeah, Trixie? What's up?"

"Do you think… Er… No, rather… Can you… Keep a secret?" She refocused her gaze on her, the dark-haired girl's eyes intensely locking on to her friend's.

"I-… Y-Yeah, of course." The sixteen year old blonde nodded, Trixie's question filling her with unease.

"Okay, then… J-Just, cover your eyes for a second…?" She stammered out nervously, her eyes briefly drifting over to the trunk near to her bedroom door, the very same one that, unbeknownst to her, Timmy's fairy godmother had been hiding under.

"Okay? L-Like, I guess I can..." Veronica did as she was instructed and brought her hands up to cover her eyes, her blush darkening just a tad as a result.

"Good, now..." Trixie began, hesitantly making her way over to the trunk. "Don't- Don't open your eyes until I say so, alright?"

"S-Sure..." She nodded again, feeling strangely self-conscious at the temporary absence of one of her senses, _especially_ since all she had on was her underwear. Something about not being able to see while she was next to naked, even if she _was_ in her best friend's room; left her uncomfortable, her imagination beginning to run wild as she heard Trixie open the large trunk by her door, with this sound soon being followed by that of fabric brushing against fabric, and the occasional low grunt of exertion from her friend. _"_ _What could she be doing that's such a big secret? It_ sounds _like she's putting on clothes… Or taking them_ off _..."_ Veronica thought to herself, her cheeks heating up, and prompting her to squeeze her eyes shut behind her hands. _"N-No way! Trixie's not-… Or… I don't_ think _she's a-"_ She frowned, remembering their earlier conversation. _"She_ did _say Timmy doesn't feel like the right fit sometimes, but..."_

Taking a chance, the blonde opened her left eye and spread a couple of her fingers apart to peek out at her best friend, briefly catching a glimpse of her, still wearing her t-shirt, but now wearing what appeared to be a pair of dark red jeans that weren't quite her size. "You're not peeking, right?" Trixie questioned in a sly, if still somewhat nervous tone, causing the blonde to quickly cover eyes again.

"N-No!" Veronica responded in a high-pitched, surprised voice.

"Heehee! I'll just be another minute!" Trixie giggled. The excitement of revealing a secret she'd kept from even her best friend for as long as she had made her feel strangely giddy.

Or maybe it was just nice to not have to hide it from _everyone_ anymore.

"Let's see..." She turned away from the trunk and made her way over to her vanity mirror, bringing with her a somewhat over-sized baseball cap. "Just gotta… Get it all… Under here…!" With some difficulty, she carefully curled up her long black hair and tucked it into her hat, then pulled it down as tightly and comfortably as she could against her scalp, hiding most of her excess hair from view. "There!" She smiled happily at her reflection, then returned to the side of her bed, standing just far enough away to give Veronica a full-body view of her 'outfit'. "Ah… Alright, just… Don't… Don't freak out, okay?"

"Um… Why would I freak-" Veronica began, at last moving her hands away from her eyes, but almost immediately cut herself off, the sight before her rendering her speechless.

"Hey~..." Trixie drawled out meekly, her voice nearly catching in her throat. "So this is… It's just one part of the secret that I-Um… Mentioned..."

The blonde remained silent, her eyes studying her best friend in confusion, and maybe a little bit of disbelief. In addition to the jeans she noticed earlier, Trixie wore a dark-purple t-shirt over what looked to be some kind of thick, white turtleneck, while the long black hair Veronica sometimes found herself admiring was hidden; tucked away beneath a roomy-looking dark blue baseball cap. A glance down at her feet revealed she was still barefoot, and that the jeans she wore were indeed a little too big, the cuffs reaching the floor. "Wow..." She mouthed the word more than spoke it as she crawled across Trixie's bed and hopped out to get a better look at her. "You-" Veronica walked a tight circle around Trixie, looking her up and down. "You're like, almost a totally different person!"

"Ehehe! I dunno about _that_..." The dark-haired girl blushed under her friend's inquisitiveness, though she couldn't deny Veronica's sudden interest _was_ kind of flattering…

"I'm serious! If I saw you from a distance, and hadn't just seen you change, I probably wouldn't even recognize you! Trixie, you _totally_ pull off this look!"

" _Not sure if I should take that as a compliment, or an insult..."_ Trixie thought to herself. "Well… That's the thing, actually. I… I only really wear this… When I'm trying to… Stay under the radar?"

"So… What? This is like, a disguise, or something?" The blonde took a step back, cupping her chin in one hand as she looked her best friend up and down.

"That's… One way to put it, yeah. I-… The thing is… Wow, I can't believe I'm telling you this, I've never told anybody and… Ooh…!" Trixie covered her nose and mouth with her hands and groaned into them, feeling uncomfortably warm all of a sudden, though whether it was from the stress of the situation, or the three shirts she currently wore, she wasn't sure. "Just…! Look!" Quickly dropping to her knees, the girl reached under her bed and slid out a large, colorful stack of comic books, the top issue being a very recent installment in the 'Crimson Chin' series.

"Okay…?" Veronica remarked flatly as she crouched down on the floor with Trixie, the stack of comics sitting between them. "You like comics?"

"Yes! But y-you don't understand, some of the stories in them are really interesting and awesome, and I _know_ it's weird that I like them, but when I was younger, I saw this Crimson Chin issue at the doctor's office that I started reading 'cause it was _so **boring**_ in the waiting room, and I just couldn't put it down once I started! Then as I got older, I wanted to read more and more, but my mom and dad just thought I was joking when I said I like comics and stuff, saying it wasn't proper for a girl like me to like stuff like that-" Trixie's voice grew higher in pitch and desperation as she tried to justify the stack of comics between her and her best friend, unfortunately leaving the blonde unable to get so much as a word in edgewise.

"Trixie, I-"

"-I started dressing up like a boy to sneak into comic book stores and buy comics and action figures because I couldn't have any of the hired help get them for me, in case they told my parents about it, and I didn't know what you and the rest of our friends would think if any of you knew, so the only person I could bring was Hans, and he's not great with people, so I _still_ had to buy the stuff I wanted myself, then one day I met this girl named Timantha who-"

" _Wait, 'Timantha'? No way that's not made up..."_ Veronica mused to herself, quirking an eyebrow up at the odd name. "Can I just-"

"-But I never saw her again after that day, so I just decided it was best to keep this stuff a secret from everyone and keep doing what I was doing. I've been so afraid of what everyone might think of me if they found out, but it's just been _suffocating_ , keeping this a secret for so long, but you're my best friend and the only person I feel like I can trust with this, so I… I guess I'm… I'm sorry I never told you." Trixie wearily panted for air as she finished, her brow furrowed with worry.

"So wait, doesn't Hans know?" The sixteen year old blonde tilted her head slightly, the huge bodyguard; who was never far from her and Trixie's table during lunch, coming to mind.

"I just fed him a line about having a brother named 'Tristan' who rarely leaves his room and needs someone to keep an eye on him because I worry." Trixie shrugged, though her shoulders went right back to being slumped afterward. "Seemed to be enough."

"And… And you never told me because… What? You thought I wouldn't want to be friends with a girl who likes boy stuff?" Veronica questioned, her expression a combination of hurt and disbelief.

"Yes? M-Maybe? I… I don't know! I _do_ know _I'd_ think it'd be weird, if I were in your shoes! I mean, I sneak around, dressed like a boy and do… The same stuff that we all say is nerdy and geeky..." The sixteen year old shot back, her tone rapidly dipping from somewhat defensive to worried again.

"Th-That's true, but… But you're my best friend! You said it yourself, and… And that's not gonna change just because you like comics and action figures! What kind of person would I be if I stopped being friends with you over something as silly as this, especially after how much of an awesome friend _you've_ been?" She shifted from a crouch to kneeling, putting her at the same level as Trixie.

Seeing the warm smile on Veronica's face, Trixie found herself genuinely surprised… And maybe just a tiny bit choked up, eliciting a small sniffle. "You… You really mean that, Veronica?"

"Of course I do! You're like-Ah!" Cutting herself off with a surprised yelp as her best friend leapt at her and wrapped her arms around her, the blonde froze up for a moment as she felt Trixie's chin settle on her shoulder.

"Hehehe… You really are the best friend a girl could ask for!"

Her cheeks again becoming flushed with heat, Veronica hesitantly returned the hug, the room falling silent as she closed her eyes, relaxing into the embrace.

Before long; however, Trixie spoke up, her voice tinged with uncertainty. "Is… Is this kinda weird? Us hugging, and you being, ah… Naked?" She questioned shakily, the familiar heat of a blush radiating across her cheeks.

Veronica's eyes slowly slid open and glanced in Trixie's direction. "It m- _might_ be? Maybe… A little?"

"Oh… Should… Should we stop?" Within only a few seconds, the hug between the two girls had become undeniably awkward, yet neither quite found themselves able, nor willing, to pull away, both worrying they might somehow offend or upset the other.

"Er… Y-Yeah, maybe we should..." The blonde teen nodded subtly, her arms slowly sliding off her best friend's back as she pulled away and felt Trixie do the same. "Ahm… So, do you wanna..." She quietly cleared her throat before speaking, only to trail off, nervously trying to avoid making eye contact with Trixie.

"Get… Somethingtoeat?" The dark-haired girl offered quickly in an attempt to break the tension between the two of them, her cheeks still noticeably pinker than usual.

"I could eat!"

"Same here!" Both girls nodded as they sprang to their feet, Veronica trailing close behind Trixie as she made for the door and began to open it. "Mmh!" She stopped suddenly, nearly slamming her bedroom door back closed. "We-Uh… _I_ should probably change first, and _you…_ Um..."

This prompted the blonde to look down at herself, reminding her of the fact that she was currently wearing little else but a pink bra and matching panties. "Eep! R-Right, clothes would be good!" She nodded, covering herself with her hands in embarrassment as she returned to Trixie's bed to look for an outfit…

 _Meanwhile…_

"So~..." Vicki began, eyeing the now freed-up spot on the couch between herself and Timmy, since Heather had just left to check and see if her clothes were dry. She scooted across the couch, sidling up next to her charge, which in turn caused him to visibly tense up as he glanced at her warily. "Now that we're..." She paused, making a brief show of looking around the living room for a moment. " _Alone_..." The redhead's voice took on a husky tone, her right arm snaking around Timmy's shoulders and allowing her to pull him intimately close. "What'd you think of the show, Twerp?"

Naturally, his first instinct was to try and wriggle out of the older girl's grip, but the fifteen year old knew he had little chance of escape; if Vicki wanted something, she almost invariably got it, and he was no exception. _"Not that pressing up against her like this is all_ that _bad…"_ Timmy mused to himself, his babysitter's closeness pushing the left side of her chest against his right shoulder, and her tank-top giving him a generous view of her cleavage. "Sh-Show?"

"C'mon~, you're not getting outta this playin' the fool with me, Twerp. I'd have to be blind to miss the way your eyes bugged out when one of those 'fruits' Heather's smuggling popped out of her towel." The redhead smirked as her charge's face turned a bright shade of scarlet. "And who can blame you? Her little wardrobe malfunction sure caught _my_ attention!"

"Y-Yeah, so I n-noticed..." Timmy muttered out, quietly drumming his fingers in his lap. _"So much for focusing on pizza..."_

"Oh? Caught your eye that I got a little handsy there, eh? Couldn't help myself, and it didn't look like _you_ had any intentions of making the first move..." The girl remarked in a knowing tone, prompting the brunet to look up at her in surprise.

"Wha-?! _I_ wasn't gonna-! You think I was gonna grab her-!" He paused, feeling the coolness of Vicki's thumb and index finger on his chin, holding it in place so he had no choice but to look up at her.

"You thought about it." The redhead grinned, flashing her pearly-white teeth. "Maybe just for a second, but the thought _did_ cross your mind."

"It did _not_..." Timmy rolled his eyes and glanced away, breaking eye contact with her. "I just… I'd never, y'know… Seen one. Before."

"Even after three years of dating Princess Trixie?!" Vicki exclaimed in a dramatic, incredulous tone. "Color _me_ surprised!" Despite her tone, it was clear to the brunet her statement absolutely _dripped_ with sarcasm.

"I-I thought we were talking about Heather?" The teen insisted, meeting his babysitter's gaze once more.

"And her boobs, yes. Good to hear you've got your priorities in order." The redhead nodded approvingly.

"I didn't mean-!" Timmy cut himself off, feeling more and more frustrated by the second, with the older girl's aloof, joking attitude not helping. "Wh-Why don't we talk about what _you_ did? _I_ wasn't the one who crawled on top of her and started making out with her!"

"Your loss." She shrugged with indifference, though the raised tone of voice her charge had just used _did_ surprise her a little. "And that was just a _kiss_ ; not making out, though considering all the action you _don't_ get from your 'girlfriend', I can understand how you might confuse the two."

"I _know_ the difference, I'm asking… Where it came from! You never… Neither of you ever said anything about being… Together, and I… I've never seen the two of you do anything… Like _that…_?" Just talking about the kiss between his babysitter and her friend left Timmy red in the face, his mind struggling to form the right words as it kept replaying the moment over and over.

"Should I take that to mean my little Twerp wants to see more?" Vicki lifted the brunet's chin a bit, while at the same time dipping her head a little lower, prompting him to hesitantly turn away. "Or… Maybe you want me all to yourself…?"

"I _want_ a straight answer, instead of this game you're playing with us." The fifteen year old replied in a low voice, once more meeting her gaze with his own.

This caused the redhead's confident smirk to falter, if only slightly. "Hah… Look at you, getting all serious just 'cause I'm trying to have some fun..." She sighed out. "No, there's no secret relationship going on. Heather and I are _not_ an item, happy?"

" _Aw..."_ For a brief moment, Timmy felt a powerful feeling of dejection hit him somewhere in his mind that he couldn't place; it was almost subconscious, in a way, and he had no idea why. "Oh, okay..."

The twenty-one year old's lips curled up into a sardonic grin. "Jeez, don't sound so depressed. Had no idea the thought of two girls going at it got you so excited..."

"I-I'm not depressed, just-! ...Just confused..." He trailed off, unsure of what to think of the girl's offer earlier that morning. "So then, why'd you kiss her?"

Finding herself taken aback by the teen's still childlike innocence, Vicki pulled away, her arm remaining draped around his shoulders as she relaxed back against the couch. _"Heh… Still in that stage between being a kid, and being a teenager who thinks with his…_ Hormones _."_ "I dunno, felt like a good idea at the time."

The teen quirked an eyebrow up at his babysitter and her rather nonchalant response, unsure if she was being evasive or genuine. "Okay..." He faced forward, reclining back against the couch much like Vicki was. "But-" He paused, instantly remembering the sudden, out-of-the-blue kiss between himself and Vicky the Kid. "How… Did it feel?" His cheeks flushed a familiar shade of pink as he cautiously turned to face the older girl once more.

"...Trying your hand at being a love counselor, or something?" She craned her head forward, her eyes meeting his, though Timmy's only response was a blank stare. "Felt like I was kissing a girl."

"Wha-? Well, obviously! I meant… I don't know… Did you… Like it?" The brunet asked, his cheeks growing hot.

"Heehee! Well I know for a fact _you_ did, judging by what Heather told me!" The redhead giggled, her laughter only increasing in volume as her charge's face began to match the color of a ripened tomato.

"J-Just answer the question!" Timmy shot back, his voice cracking from embarrassment.

"Hm~… Why are you so curious, Timmy?" The girl answered with a question of her own, a knowing grin gracing her lips as she sat up and began to lean towards the boy.

"I-… I just am, I guess?" In response to her approach, Timmy started to lean away, only to be stopped by the arm still partly coiled around his shoulders.

"Mm-hm…?" Vicki hummed, her eyes half-lidded as she slunk closer, looking not unlike a predator stalking her prey.

"A-And I've _heard_ that… When you kiss someone you like, um…?" He glanced down at the sensation of Vicki's right hand coming to rest on his left thigh. "Y-You usually feel a… A certain way…?"

"Oh, I see..." Growing tired of her charge's retreat, the redhead used the leverage she'd given herself to pull Timmy closer, leaving her nearly hovering over him as she cradled his head and neck in her left arm. "In that case, would you like my help _satisfying_ that curiosity, Timmy…?"

"Y-You mean like… R-Right now? Right _here_?" The fifteen year old squeaked out, a low, audible gulp emanating from his throat as he finished.

"Mm..." Another hum, this one briefly interrupted by the twenty-one year old gently butting her forehead against Timmy's. "Not gonna lie, you've got _my_ curiosity piqued as well..."

Her low, husky tone and warm breath on his lips sent chills up and down the brunet's spine, while his heart pounded away in his chest, subsuming all other noises beneath its rapid beating. _"I-…_ We _shouldn't, but… This feels so-"_

"Last chance, Timmy. You can always say 'no', if you don't want to…?" The redhead offered, only to grin as she felt a hand shyly settle on her right side, just above her hip. The act was almost clumsy in execution, but more importantly, it _wasn't_ pushing her away. "Alright~! That's more like-"

 _Cre-e-eak!_

The basement door opened with a creak that wouldn't have sounded out of place in a haunted house, and was soon followed by the sound of stockinged feet padding against the living room floor. "Phew! Glad to be out of that towel and into some nice, clean clothes!" Heather announced, her friend's laundry basket, along with her boots and white vest; in hand as she pushed the basement door closed with her foot. "Hope you two didn't eat _all_ the..." The blonde trailed off into silence, her blue eyes falling on the couch's two occupants, but especially Vicki, who looked about two seconds away from getting more than a little 'intimate' with Timmy. "Uh… I can skedaddle, if… If you two want some privacy…?"

Vicki titled her head up to look at her best friend, the motion causing her brow to brush against, then off, Timmy's. "You'd be doing _me_ a huge favor, since I was just about to-"

"Ah-! Thi-This isn't-!" The brunet stammered out as he twisted in his babysitter's grasp, shifting partway onto his stomach to get a better look at the now-clothed Heather. "I-Er… W-We were just… Wrestling! Yeah! Ngh-! Hey!" He yelped upon feeling the redhead wrap her arms around the front of his chest and lie herself down on top of him, her own chest pressing against his back.

"Not yet we're not…!" She muttered into his ear huskily, eliciting a small shudder from the teen.

" _Wrestling_? Is _that_ what the kids are calling it now?" Heather asked with a grin, earning her an approving smirk from the younger twenty-one year old. "Jeez, Vicki-" She bent over, setting the laundry basket down by the basement door. "-Think you might be, I dunno, coming on a little strong for the kid?"

"Tch, I don't hear _him_ complaining..." The redhead shrugged, again brushing her chest against her charge's back, before pushing herself back up into a more natural sitting position on the couch. "Oh, and Twerp?"

With the weight of his babysitter no longer holding him down, Timmy sat back up as well, his gaze meeting Vicki's.

"That 'wrestling' excuse? It might work on your parents, but you don't need to bother with it in Heather's case. A little kiss and groped tit between friends doesn't make us a couple; you can relax." She briefly smiled down at the brunet before turning her attention back to her best friend. " _Actually_ , we were in the midst of testing out a little theory of Timmy's…"

"Ah! So my excellent timing strikes again!" Heather exclaimed in a dramatic, playful tone, her hands settled on her hips. "...Want me to make like a bird and flock off?" She offered, feeling almost a little sorry that she'd unknowingly become a wrench in the works of her friend's plan.

" _No_ , the magic's gone, get over here so I can beat your ass in this game instead." The redhead began to scoot over, but quickly grabbed Timmy's arm and pulled him along, situating him on the middle couch cushion while she took the one at the end.

"Hehehe! Worried I'll steal him from you, V?" The blonde chuckled as she sat down on the couch and grabbed another slice of pizza, her gaze briefly dropping down to look at Timmy and shoot him a playful wink.


End file.
